Lola Wicks is a journalist who loves to follow and dig deep into a story. When she learns that there’s an eco-terrorist setting off bombs near a new coal mine on the Navajo Reservation she can’t help but get involved. But her family connections in the area could prove to be a problem and people on both sides of the issue have a problem with her investigations.
This was my first foray into a Lola Wicks mystery (this is the fourth book in a series) and my first time reading author Gwen Florio. I was attracted to the book because of the location of the story – I love the American Southwest.
Florio does a very fine job of bringing this region to life, making us believe we are right there on the reservation with Lola and all the other characters. She’s also made Lola Wicks a character that rings true and someone we might believe truly exists and researches her stories in this way.
The story is oddly current and relevant, with eco-terrorism taking place because of a major corporation operating on Native American land and causing pollution so bad that no one can safely live in the area any more. As I read this book the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation stand-off was just coming to an end, with major business winning and putting in a pipeline across the land. I couldn’t help but make the connection to this big business/Native Reservation story.
Yet for all that I liked about this book – and I liked a lot of it in individual sections – the entirety of the work, the way everything was put together, just didn’t capture my attention. Although it all felt very authentic, or real, reality is often boring and I was tremendously bored through much of this book.
I liked Lola, and yet I didn’t care about her. It seems strange, this dichotomy, but I really couldn’t get into this story and I wanted desperately for some other character to show up to bring something a little more powerful, with a little more passion to the story. As things got more and more personal for Wicks, the story did get more and more interesting, but it was difficult to get to that point.
I’m glad I read this, but I found it to be quite an average read and it certainly did not make me want to run out and get caught up on the series.
Looking for a good book? Reservations by Gwen Florio is a deeply involved mystery on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. It captures the spirit of the environment but moves along a bit too slowly to keep this reader truly interested.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
* * * * * *
Reservations
author: Gwen Florio
series: Lola Wicks #4
publisher: Midnight Ink
ISBN: 0738750425
paperback, 312 pages
Looking For a Good Book 