Averton

Pellman's unadorned, unsentimental novel about domestic terrorism follows Kelly Hastings, a 52-year-old police detective in Averton, Ohio, at the center of a plot by extremists to use his small, isolated town as ground zero for armed anarchy against the United States government. After the local power station and several homes in Averton are bombed, Hastings learns who is behind the destruction: a sinister separatist organization called the Fourth World, which is determined to reshape the American way of life. Pellman deftly captures the mood of Averton's frightened public, describes the pressures of a small town in the media spotlight, and illustrates how police and federal agents can end up chasing their own tails at a time of national crisis. At the book's center is a radiant, well-developed relationship between Kelly and Molly, a divorc%C3%A9e who understands the troubled cop, locked inside himself and searching for answers. With all its tenderness and brutality, Pellman's novel%C2%A0speaks volumes about the%C2%A0climate of fear, violence, and manipulation in today's polarized world.