Poison Town

The sequel to Mapes’s 2013 faith-based mystery, Fame Has A Name, finds journalist Jack Crittendon, fellow newsman Derrick Whittaker, and garage owner Travis Randall struggling to gather proof that Demler-Vargus, a giant fiberglass manufacturing plant in Ohio, is spewing hazardous pollutants that are killing some locals and making others, including Travis’s dad, Galen, gravely ill. Worse, anyone who challenges the corporation winds up missing or dead. Mapes’s plot is complemented by narrator Gregory’s ability to carve out the characters with unique voices. Travis’s speech is slow and thoughtful, in contrast to the whining and complaints of his emotional brother L.J. Derrick, who initiates the investigation of Demler-Vargus. The combination manages to excite even though it’s a given that God cares for the good and punishes the evil. A David C. Cook paperback. (Feb.)