Nicholas Evans - The Divide

review by showhost
I first read one of this authors a few years ago 'The Horse Whisperer', which I really enjoyed (it was also turned into a film with Robert Redford).
The Divide takes you from New York to the Rockies. In the beginning when you first meet the ex-wife, Sarah, you think what a bitch, cold, bullying, domineering - no wonder her husband Ben, left her! When the sherrif describes her as elegant, good looking, short cropped blond hair, my image of her was 'Sharon Stone'.
A body is found frozen in a crater in the snowy Montana mountains by two, very lucky to be alive, skiers. The body is the missing daughter of estranged husband & wife Sarah & Ben. The daughter, Abbie, who was involved in eco-terrorism, was wanted for murder by the FBI.
After the opening paragraphs about the murder, the bulk of the story is how it got to this point, how a break up in a marriage can affect the children, how a seemingly happily married couple can drift apart. How one child can become angry about the split up & completely comes off the rails while the other, Josh, wonders around in a marijuana daze. How easy it is for a teenage girl, especially a screwed up angry one, to be influenced by an older, coniving man (Patty Hearst syndrome). But how, with a sound loving upbringing they can come back into the fold. Over the rest of the story Sarah didn't come over anything like I thought she was in the beginning, she was warmer, heartbroken, a victim. Towards the end, the story picks up events just prior to Abbies death. Its steady absorbing stuff and tearjerking at the end.
Nicholas Evans draws his characters so well, the dialogue is so real you can imagine you are there listening to their snipes, rows, discussions. The family conflict is excellently portrayed and you feel you know the family afterwards.
I can't say I rushed to pick the book up but each time I did I was absorbed.