Red Lightning

May 15, 2015

Pritchett's latest continues with many of the same characters as her 2014 novel Sky Bridge. After ten years on the run, thirtyish Tess returns to her childhood home on the Colorado High Plains to reunite with her mother, sister, and the daughter she left behind as a baby. Tess appears to be homeless, half-dead with a tooth infection, and suicidal. But her situation is even worse, and her return rains down trouble on her family. Tess has been working for a coyote, running illegal immigrants and drugs from the mountains into Denver, and her last run has proved disastrous, with immigrants and product lost in a wildfire. VERDICT Tess's quirky inner monologs, slipping from first to third person and peppered with newly made compound words, are a bit too insightful for someone who's such a mess, and sometimes the book's character development seems pat. The real motor of this novel is its plot, like that of a well-made action movie, with its inside look at the criminal world associated with border running. Pritchett skillfully unfolds plot points, keeping the reader guessing, and building suspense. That, along with loving descriptions of the Western landscape, make for a great read.--Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Having abandoned her infant daughter to the care of her sister, Libby, when she was just a teenager, Tess departed NoWhere, Colorado, for parts unknown and has not been heard of in 10 years. It was a time spent shepherding illegal immigrants through deserts and mountains, occasionally running drugs and evading gangs. It was a time spent, too, dealing with the consequences of years of abuse and humiliation meted out at the hands of her alcoholic mother. Emotionally and physically depleted, with thoughts of suicide fermenting in her brain, Tess returns to NoWhere on a last atonement tour: to see her daughter, apologize to her sister, and make peace with her mother. But a wildfire in the nearby mountain passes prompts a tragedy that rocks Tess' world and makes her reevaluate her plans to leave her family behind. Through themes of remorse and redemption, acceptance and forgiveness, Pritchett (Stars Go Blue, 2014), one of the West's most agile and evocative writers, depicts molten imagery and bubbling emotions that surge with potent fluidity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)