The Wildlands

Disasters both natural and personal are at the heart of Geni’s bold and adventurous latest, following 2016’s The Lightkeepers. Three years after a tornado devastates the Oklahoma town of Mercy—leaving sisters Darlene, Jane, and Cora orphaned and in poverty—a nearby cosmetics factory is bombed by animal rights activists. The bombing turns out to be the work of the girls’ disappeared brother, Tucker, who abandoned the sisters after a storm took away their home and father. On the lam and badly injured, Tucker kidnaps nine-year-old Cora to help tend his wounds, and to witness his grand plan of destruction as he moves west and targets individuals and establishments that hurt animals. Cora is struck dumb with love for Tucker, whom she remembers only as a special presence, a remnant of her old life, but through her eyes readers can clearly see the cruelty and confusion behind his escalating actions. With Cora missing, tough Darlene works with a kind local cop to find her sister and end Tucker’s reign of violence before it can hurt too many or corrupt Cora too irreversibly. While predictable, the novel is particularly notable for its interrogations of human relationships with the natural world, in keeping with Geni’s previous works. This is a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that will keep the reader turning the pages. (Sept.)