The Divide - Nicholas Evans

Evans wrote The Horse Whisperer, but don't hold that against him. I really enjoyed The Smoke Jumper, and The Divide is once again set in the wide open spaces in the Northern US, in this case Montana mostly. It's the story of Sarah and Ben Cooper, and their daughter Abbie, an eco-terrorist on the run after someone dies in an act of vandalism and arson. The story jumps back and forth in time, and between the four Coopers (son Josh is the fourth), showing the perspective of each character and also placing them all in different parts of the action. The story opens with Abbie's body being discovered frozen in the snow by two skiers. As it unfolds you learn of the things that split the family and led to Abbie's tragic death. The Divide is both a place, and a metaphor for what has happened to Sarah and Ben's relationship. At times, this novel was quite sad, and slow, but the way it unfolds is clever and rather lovely. When it reaches the manner in which Abbie meets her end, it wasn't quite what I expected or how I'd been led by the narrative to believe she died. If you like Jodi Picoult style novels, then you'll like this one.