ABANDON. By Blake Crouch. St. Martin's Press. 406 pages. $25.99.
In my review of former Statesville resident Blake Crouch's first novel, I described him as a talented up-and-coming author with an immense imagination.
A year later I reiterated that statement and declared his second novel a praiseworthy sequel, noting that its conclusion left open possibilities for another in the series. And as I sensed that this writer could perform on a much larger scale, I privately wondered if the rewards of his earlier works would constrain him to the sub-genre of his first two books. I wonder no more.
Four years and clearly lots of hard work later, Crouch's third novel proves that the scope of his writing will not be limited to the artfully performed but simpler constructs that dominated his debut. The poetic prose is still abundantly evidenced, the expert pacing remains, and although the graphic nature of some of the scenes shares the shock value, readers will be entertained with less of the gruesome sensationalism of Crouch's earlier works. This book delves deeper into the interpersonal relationships and emotional depths that define the key players as it alternates between present day drama and historical fiction in a way that will appeal to a broader, more mature audience.
Autumn 2009: Abigail Foster is a free-lance journalist who has been invited by her estranged father to accompany him and others into the Colorado wilderness for a visit to a ghost town called Abandon. Ostensibly, the trek is to investigate paranormal activity in search of answers as to how the inhabitants of this mining town suddenly disappeared without a trace. The truth -- and the plot of the story -- proves to revolve around more worldly states of affairs: insanity, betrayal and simple human greed.
Christmas Day 1893: Lana Hartman plays carols on a piano in Abandon's only remaining saloon. This once booming town has dwindled as the mines have petered out; the desperate few remaining toil in squalor as a rich man enjoys the luxurious trappings of wealth high on the hill above. Unknown to all but a few, he keeps a fortune's worth of gold in a secret room. Those few have sinister plans.
Stephen Cole has come to Abandon to minister to the souls who labor in the mines and work in the town. Little does he know that the spring that supplies his water is laced with a poisonous concoction of minerals that will inexorably drive him to a course of action that is very ungodly indeed.
What transpires in 1893 and 2009 are dual mad dashes to find and secure enough gold to make its possessors rich beyond imagination. As the body counts mount, the guilty and the innocent are beset by bushwhackers, back stabbers, whores and heathen on one side, and rogue Marines, common criminals and a crooked government official on the other.
Parallel plotlines progress concurrently, shifting between past and present with connections between time, place, motive and predicament. The connections add to the overall dynamic of the fiction, and the convergences balance the pace and add significance. As you reach the climax of the most dramatic scenes, you will be maddeningly left hanging as the book changes time frames, only to be re-engrossed as you encounter the tandem plotline with a deeper understanding of events past and present. Blake Crouch -- you've done it again!
■ Steven Beach is a writer who lives in Lawsonville.
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