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“Peter Wyoming didn’t shake hands with people; he hit them with his presence like a rock fired from a sling-shot.”
Evan Delaney must face down a fanatical end-time cult bend on taking her newphew, Luke, despite legal custody orders while her brother is in jail, framed for murder.
Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library.
TITLE:
CHINA LAKE
WRITER:
by Meg Gardiner
Narrators:
Tanya Eby Sirois
PARTICULARS:
Format: Unabridged WMA Audiobook — Clevnet eMedia Collection
Download: 10 parts
Time: 11 hours, 33 minutes
SERIES:
Evan Delaney Mystery Series #1
GENRE:
Mystery, Thriller.
DESCRIPTORS:
The Remnant, End-time Christian Cult, Murder, Divorce, Custody, Plagues, Fall of Civilization, God, The Devil, Harassment, Protest, Threats, Terrorism,
CHARACTERS
Evan Delaney, Former lawyer turned leagal researcher, journalist and novelist. She is taking care of her nephew Luke.
Jesse Blackburn, A lawyer and Evan’s lover, his spine was shattered and he has only minimum use of his legs.
Luke Delaney, Evan’s nephew, the son of Brian and Tabitha Delaney.
Brian Delaney, Evan’s fighter-pilot brother who has no patience with anyone except with Luke.
Tabitha Delaney, Evan’s ex-sister-in-law and Luke’s mother. She grew up fundamentalist Christian, left for a while and has now joined a Christian cult.
Peter Wyoming, Charismatic leader of the Remnant — an end-time Christian cult.
Chenille Wyoming, Peter’s wife and one of the Remnant leaders with special design on Luke and a hatred for Brian.
SUMMARY:
At the funeral of a dear friend who died from AIDS, a religious protestor Peter Wyoming confronts Evan with the hint that her ex-sister-in-law has returned to Santa Barbara and joined their church. Checking up on this Remnant group, Evan attends a post protest sermon only to be discovered. In the middle of being manhandled, a sick and delusional doctor Neil Jorgensen interrupts and they both get tossed through the chuch window where upon Jorgensen gets run over by a truck.
That’s the first volley as the Remnant brings their resources and fanaticism to bear on Evan. As she feared, they make clear their intent to take Luke and they are no respector of the law. Cornered, Evan takes her nephew to China Lake, where his father is stationed — where the Delaney kids grew up.
And yet, the Remnant and Tabitha follow. . .
Then Pete Wyoming winds up dead and Brian Delaney is locked up — a seemingly air tight case of murder. Except Evan refuses to believe it. To save her brother and protect Luke, she begins her own investigation into the case only to find trechery, danger and fanaticism that borders on insanity.
But can she find the real killer of Pete Wyoming? . . .
APPEAL:
This book read more like a thriller than a mystery. Evan gets put through the wringer as does her family. She stands to lose horrifically if she can’t save Luke. The stakes were high and very personal. There is a mystery involved, a few of them actually, but they are well integrated in the contest of wills between Evan and the Remnant. At the end, Evan is not the same person as she was at the beginning.
China Lake is narrated by Evan so it is told in first person past tense. There was a couple of moments of foreshadowing that jarred me but there was one cool passage where Evan reports what was seen on a bank video camera (an watched later) but allowed Meg Gardiner to highten suspense by relaying a scene that Evan couldn’t have possibly seen until much later. Having Evan narrate the story usually means you can’t have suspense concerning Evan’s safety — so Meg puts Brian, Jesse and Luke in danger. That scored big points in the suspense meter.
The focus of the book is primarily keeping Luke safe and in his father’s custody. Secondarily it is getting Brian out of jail and proving he didn’t commit murder so that it doesn’t affect custody. Floating throughout the book is a general tension over the safety of Evan’s friends and relatives — an issue the reader perceives before she does. Often when that happens, it irks me that a character is that dumb — but Meg has set it up that Evan is very grounded in reality and being an ex-lawyer, she couldn’t easily accept that the Remnant could and would go well outside the law to achieve their aims.
The book is heavy on description. The scenes in Santa Barbara are vastly different from the scenes in China Lake. The people are different too — except for the cops and feds — both come out looking pretty bad no matter where they are based.
Tanya Eby Sirois did an excellent job of reading the book. She sounded like Evan to me — which is helpful since the entire story is being told to you by Evan. I hope that she continues to read the rest of the series because I can’t imagine Evan sounding any different. (The entire Evan Delaney series is available through the Clevnet eMedia Collection, but I haven’t checked to see who read the other stories).
NOTES:
China Lake won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.
You can find a list of the Edgar Award winners at 2009 Edgar Award Winners Are Here! on our sister blog Picks From the RAT Collective.
The Evan Delaney series was originally published in England. Obsidian/Penguin is released the remaining Evan Delaney novels on a monthly schedule in 2008.
- China Lake in June
- Mission Canyon in July
- Jericho Point in August
- Crosscut in September
- Kill Chain in October
READALIKES:
If you like China Lake, you might try the other books in the Evan Delaney series: Mission Canyon, Jericho Point, Crosscut, and Kill Chain. She has also written a stand alone book published simultaneously in the US and the UK called The Dirty Secrets Club.
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