One of my favorite thriller writers, CJ Lyons, teamed up with environmental and consumer activist Erin Brockovich to create the dramatic thriller Rock Bottom. The story follows heroine AJ Palladino, an environmental activist and single mom to a son with a disability, David. When AJ returns to her hometown of Scotia, West Virginia, she is thrown into the middle of a mystery. The well known lawyer who had hired her as clerk to assist in his new case has died- and it looks like he could have been a homicide. When the lawyer’s daughter, Elizabeth, determinedly takes on the challenge of finding his murderer, AJ becomes involved. The story plays out in twisty sub-plots: David’s father and his past with AJ, the mining company that could be poisoning the town, the mystery behind AJ’s parents and their refusal to speak to her, and more.
Write what you know is a big piece of advice that authors often give, and it is clear that is what Brockovich and Lyons did. While I did enjoy all the mystery/thriller aspects, some of the environmental talks left me a bit confused. I don’t know much about saving the environment and the toxins and mining machines, etc, so I felt a little drowned when the book became heavy on those subjects, simply because I couldn’t grasp what was being talked about. But I did enjoy the suspense, and trying to figure out who killed the lawyer along with AJ and Elizabeth. I loved David’s character and the positive outlook the little boy had. The ending was shocking and unexpected to me, yet I thought it summed up the message the story wants you to get from reading. This is the first in a series from Brockovich and Lyons, and I do think I would give the second novel a try.
[Rating: 3.5]
April 22, 2011
