2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller
From Booklist
Feminist and environmental activist Magdalena has barely survived a vicious attack by tattooed thugs. Washed ashore at the borderlands, where California and Mexico meet the Pacific, she is rescued by the reluctant Fahey, an ex-con and surfer turned worm farmer. This saint-and-sinner dichotomy serves as the launching point for Nunn's signature theme of the search for redemption, as Fahey, enervated by past misdeeds, marshals the energy to keep Magdalena safe while eluding her tormentors. Nunn shares with Carl Hiaasen a deep moral outrage and a flair for creating, in surrealistic fashion, exaggeratedly malevolent villains amid a stewing, toxic landscape; however, he shares none of Hiaasen's humor, and his stony solemnity, at times, turns his prose dense and ponderous and his story line oppressive. Still, there's no denying his talent, and it comes shining through in the novel's best passages--the climactic pulse-pounding race through the dunes, the near-mystical surfing scenes. This one, then, is for Nunn's devoted inner circle of fans; others would do better by picking up Tapping the Source (1983) or The Dogs of Winter (1997). Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Genre: Mystery
Feminist and environmental activist Magdalena has barely survived a vicious attack by tattooed thugs. Washed ashore at the borderlands, where California and Mexico meet the Pacific, she is rescued by the reluctant Fahey, an ex-con and surfer turned worm farmer. This saint-and-sinner dichotomy serves as the launching point for Nunn's signature theme of the search for redemption, as Fahey, enervated by past misdeeds, marshals the energy to keep Magdalena safe while eluding her tormentors. Nunn shares with Carl Hiaasen a deep moral outrage and a flair for creating, in surrealistic fashion, exaggeratedly malevolent villains amid a stewing, toxic landscape; however, he shares none of Hiaasen's humor, and his stony solemnity, at times, turns his prose dense and ponderous and his story line oppressive. Still, there's no denying his talent, and it comes shining through in the novel's best passages--the climactic pulse-pounding race through the dunes, the near-mystical surfing scenes. This one, then, is for Nunn's devoted inner circle of fans; others would do better by picking up Tapping the Source (1983) or The Dogs of Winter (1997). Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Genre: Mystery
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