Another Review at MyShelf.Com

China Lake
An Evan Delaney Novel

by Meg Gardiner



      When Stephen King talks, people listen. 

It was King who brought Meg Gardiner to the attention of the American publishing industry, penning a column in Entertainment Weekly that said he could not believe that she had only been published in the United Kingdom, and that it was astonishing that U.S. readers had been deprived of her talent.  Needless to say, the column threw U.S. publishers into a frenzy as they all attempted to nab Gardiner and introduce her to the American reading public.  Dutton won the war and is publishing the novels originally published in the U.K. as well as a brand new novel later this summer. 

The first of the novels to be published here is China Lake, and it introduces us to Evan Delaney, a former attorney who is now working as a science fiction novelist in Santa Barbara.  Delaney is caring for her six-year-old nephew, Luke, the end result of the disintegration of her brother’s marriage to a woman who has joined a doomsday cult known as The Remnant.  Delaney’s brother, a military pilot, is back from service, though, and ready to begin caring for his son again.  At the same time, his ex-wife has materialized - with her friends from the cult - and wants Luke back.  As Evan and her brother attempt to protect Luke from his own mother and the people she has surrounded herself with, they find themselves caught in the middle of a very evil group who will stop at nothing - lying, kidnapping, even murder - to get what they want. 

King was right.  Gardiner is a great writer and this is a great book.  Gardiner has put together a tightly wound plot with terrifically complex characters that the reader cares about.  The fanatical violence of The Remnant is frightening yet completely believable.  Evan is an excellent protagonist, someone who always wants to do the right thing, but often finds herself wondering what that exactly is.  Gardiner’s depiction of both Santa Barbara and the China Lake area are spot on, adding another layer to the novel.  The tension shows up on the first page and doesn’t let up until the last.  Gardiner has a very unique way of turning a phrase and bending the language.  She doesn’t depend on the many clichés that many thriller writers lean on.  This is an original thriller written in an original way.

Get ready to hear a lot more about Meg Gardiner this summer.

The Book

Signet
June 3, 2008
Mass Market Paperback
0451224558 / 978-0451224552
Thriller
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE:

The Reviewer

Jeff Shelby
Reviewed 2008
NOTE:Reviewer Jeff Shelby is the author of Killer Swell.
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