Valley of Refuge
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In this high-stakes, character-driven thriller, a Hawaiian family must decide the future of their ancestral land when a tech billionaire decides he wants it for himself, and won't take no for an answer.
What would you do if you. . .
. . .were offered an obscene amount of money for your family's ancestral land? For Nalani and her mother, the money that could change their lives—at the sacrifice of everything they believe—is a double edged blade, and they're not sure they can trust the secretive tech billionaire holding it out to them as if it were an olive branch. But what happens when a man with unlimited wealth is given an answer he doesn't want to hear?
. . .woke up on a plane en route to a tiny Hawaiian island, with no memory of who you are or why you're there? Janice, whose only clues are the passport in her pocket, and a locked phone with increasingly alarming text alerts about a situation she may or may not be part of, barely knows where to start. Navigating an unfamiliar place, and her own unfamiliar mind, Janice seeks to discover who she is, and answer the question of why she is here, and exactly whose side is she on?
As plans are set in motion that carry them down dangerous and unexpected paths, all involved must decide just how far they are willing to go to reach their goals, before turning back is no longer an option.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Teschner follows up 2022's Project Namahana with a plodding thriller that finds Nalani Winthrop weighing the financial opportunity of a lifetime against her family's legacy in Hawai'i. Winthrop has inherited a small parcel of land that's of interest to the AinaKai Alliance, a nonprofit scientific organization that wants to research marine life off the island's North Shore. Selling her land to the group, she believes, would help protect vulnerable native species while providing Winthrop's family a life-changing windfall. In reality, tech billionaire Franky Dalton—best-known for creating a social media platform that thrives on promoting the kind of incendiary political content that radicalizes its users—funds AinaKai and its activities. Publicly, Dalton claims that his pursuit of Winthrop's land is about sustainability, but in reality, his ambitions lie in creating a haven for his family, whom Dalton fears may become targets for the zealous user base he's cultivated. As Nalani wavers, Dalton makes it clear he'll stop at nothing to obtain the land, and they become locked in a potentially dangerous battle that's complicated by the arrival of an amnesiac woman named Janice who awakens on a plane bound for the island, and who may be allied with one of them. While Teschner's themes are topical, and he manages an insightful examination of greed's destructive influence, he falters in the pacing, generating precious little suspense or momentum. This is an ambitious misfire.
