Forty Days and Forty Nights: A Novel of the Mississippi River

Clementine Price, the capable heroine of this gripping thriller from film director Edwards and Edgar finalist Scott (the Ben Abbott series), grew up on the banks of the Mississippi and studied hydraulic engineering and river science at West Point. As a first lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers, she’s selected by Col. Robert Garcia to be his adjutant in the Memphis District of the Corps. Ten years later, unprecedented torrential rains are forecast along the Mississippi, and the Corps has activated emergency management operations to assess and repair any damage to their system of levees and dams, which have kept the river and its tributaries in check. Clementine discovers that the looming natural disaster has played into the hands of a highly organized and technologically savvy white supremacist group that’s intent on creating an independent republic within the U.S. The authors create a plausible and chilling scenario, peopling it with a large and vividly rendered cast. The romance that develops between Clementine and Robert, meanwhile, never slows the breakneck pace. Readers looking for action and adventure on a cinematic scale will be rewarded. (Oct.)