Tame the Fury

This interminable first novel set in the high country of Washington State at the turn of the century is dominated by a tiresome heroine whose alternating hatred of and passion for her hero render her unappealing and even irrational. Abandoned by her fiance and believing her father fatally ill, Rebecca Klein agrees to marry by proxy the son of his friend in order to make the dying man happy. But two years later, her father has survived, and her husband, Matthew McKay, an adventurer, has decided to settle down and claim his bride, looking forward to a peaceful life on the land. Rebecca, who feels she has been tricked, gets herself in a snit and stays in it--except when she's enthusiastically bedding down with Matthew. Into this scenario slithers Matthew's wicked half-brother Eric, who also squabbles with the much-abused hero and tries to steal Rebecca--and the gold-laden land comprising her dowry. As this earthy story progresses, Logan adds an incongruous element: Matthew and Eric's dead mother, who had supernatural powers, speaks to Rebecca from the grave, mysteriously alluding to the book's conclusion. (Aug.)