The Vermont hill country is the stark, vivid setting for this gripping and entertaining story of bold determination. The local villain, Blackway, is making life hellish for Lillian, a young woman from parts elsewhere. Her boyfriend has fled the state in fear, and local law enforcement can do nothing to protect her. She resolves, however, to stand her ground, and to fight back, with the aid of a pair of unlikely allies—Lester, a crafty old-timer, and Nate, a powerful but naïve youth. In this modern-day quest, a kind of Greek chorus of local men—wry, witty, digressive; obsessively, amusingly reminiscent; skeptical, opinionated, and not always entirely sober—enriches the telling of the tale as the reader follows the threesome’s progress on their dangerous, suspenseful journey.
