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Mr Kitty got
4U
Susie Moloney
A DRY SPELL
Canadian writer Susie Moloney's second novel is served ala king - Stephen that is. A Dry Spell is macabre, sometimes far-fetched, and ultimately chilling.
We learn straightaway that Goodlands, North Dakota, the fictional setting for this preternatural epic, is not living up to its name. Despite its motto "A Good Little Town," there's nothing good going on in Goodlands.
A four-year drought has parched the earth, and turned once sanguine farm families suspicious. They're losing their land to foreclosure; their hopes have turned to dust. Despite the Farmer's Almanack prediction for a "wet, cool spring" and a wet August, it rains everywhere but on the wheat and barley fields of Goodlands.
In addition, there are some bizarre happenings taking place : cement driveways rupture; a gigantic oak falls through a plate glass window; water tank spigots vanish as precious liquid is lost.
Banker Karen Grange has been banished to Goodlands for past infractions (a tendency to max out credit cards in an accumulation of the unwanted and unworn). As manger of Commercial Farm Credit it is her unhappy task to inform families that they are losing their homes and, if the drought continues, she may lose the bank. With "some invisible umbrella hovering over Goodlands, and no scientific explanation for it," Karen summons a rainmaker.
Tom Keatley, the tall, long-haired rain doctor uses no incantations or magic rituals. With his emphatically square jaw and narrowed eyes he summons cumulus clouds by sheer dint of will and an occasional shot of Wild Turkey. But there was something wrong with Goodlands, and he knew it. There was "that hum that ran underneath the earth, the incredible, persistent dryness of the place, the way the sky wouldn't open for him...."
Much of what is wrong in Goodlands roils within Vida Whalley, youngest daughter of a disreputable clan. "Whalleys had been plaguing the town, drinking and fighting, stealing and making trouble for years." Directed by an inner voice Vida makes more than trouble.
As events become nightmarish, friends turn on friends and a melee ensues at the local caf?. Sheriff Henry Barker, who normally only chases dogs and breaks up fights, has his work cut out for him. Add to the mix Carl Simpson, a once reasonable man, who blames the drought on government men hiding in silos, and you have a town on the brink of disaster.
Sometimes it is slow going to reach this point, as descriptions of dryness and hoped for respite tend to be repetitious. It seems a bit pat for both Karen and Tom to be the results of deprived childhoods.
Nonetheless, Susie Moloney has penned a harrowing tale in which she recreates the classic struggle between good and evil. Which prevails? Chiller/thriller fans will welcome A Dry Spell.
Książka w języku angielskim
Okładka: twarda, stan db++
Strony: 384 , 1998 bdb
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