Turnback Ridge
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A literary thriller set in a near-future Alaska in which global warming and immigration policy are wreaking havoc on lives and land.
In the wake of his wife's mysterious disappearance, Nash Preston is trying to hold his family together. As the Alaska summer heats up, he ignores his expired visa—and now immigration bounty hunters are after him as he flees for the border with his sons. Their already fraught journey takes an alarming turn when his youngest, Robbie, picks up a mysterious fossil that makes him sick. When his boys are snatched and taken to a sinister detention facility, he must find a way to save them.
Turnback Ridge engages with current and complex issues such as changes to immigration policy and attitudes, climate crisis, and the danger of the potential monetization of climate solutions. Fast-paced and thought-provoking, it expands upon the growing trend of literary fiction that embraces the tropes of genre fiction to examine climate change—such as Alex DiFrancesco's All City or Waubgeshig Rice's Moon of the Crusted Snow.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this bleak, dystopian thriller set in a near-future Alaska from Brightwell (Dead of Winter), bounty hunters are rounding up anyone whose immigration status has lapsed. Canadian citizen Nash Preston's Mexican-born wife, Maria, has disappeared, leaving him alone with their two teenage sons, Chris and Robbie. Despite Nash's best efforts, he hasn't been able to find Maria. Nash, who's let his visa run out, decides to abandon their home in Anchorage and with the boys head for the distant Canadian border. Along the way, Robbie picks up a mysterious object that attaches itself to his hand. When Chris and Robbie are kidnapped, Nash realizes he must rescue them before Robbie succumbs to the object that seems to be infecting him. The tension rises as a desperate Nash pulls out all the stops to save his boys. Brightwell addresses such timely issues as climate change, healthcare, and immigration without slowing the plot. Though the brief climax may leave some readers wishing for more, the novel shines when the story focuses on Nash's relationship with his sons. This heartfelt tale of fatherhood will resonate with many.
