China Lake by
Meg Gardiner
pbk out March 03
(Coronet)
at £6.99
Evan Delaney, narrator and heroine of this debut novel, is a qualified lawyer working as a journalist and legal researcher, in addition to being the author of a best-selling science fiction novel. She also turns out to be a courageous, even foolhardy, defender of her nearest and dearest.
These consist of her boyfriend, lawyer Jesse Blackburn, her brother Brian who is a USAF pilot and Brian's 6-year old son Luke, and the threat to their (and a lot of other people's) wellbeing comes from an organisation called The Remnant. This sounds like a rock band, but is in fact a right-wing and extremely militant religious cult. The members are frightening right from their appearance at the very beginning of the story, and as the novel progresses they become madder and more dangerous page by page. As well as having various well-worn grievances against modern society in general, they are specifically trying to lure away Luke, whose mother Tabitha has joined the group. At first it seems that Tabitha simply wants her son back, but it soon becomes apparent that The Remnant want the boy for their own purposes, although for a while it is not clear what those purposes might be.
Evan is oddly unafraid to tackle The Remnant on their own territory over their views and the threat to Luke, but as the spiralling danger puts Brian and Jesse and even Tabitha in jeopardy it seems that confrontation may not be enough. The sect are stockpiling food as if for a major siege, and they are clearly planning some drastic action to coincide with that unholiest of times, Hallowe'en. They have an arsenal of conventional weapons, but these are evidently not enough - could they be planning to use chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons? Some of the characters may appear larger than life, but nevertheless there is a chill of authenticity about the religious fanatics, and even about Evan's brother Brian, who with his ultra-patriotic views is not an entirely sympathetic character.
Meg Gardiner has produced an excellent first novel - fast-paced, thrilling and well-written. It is a very gripping read (albeit somewhat incredulity-stretching) and Evan Delaney is certainly somebody I'd like to meet again.
