Her marriage at crisis-point, Alice Coleman is desperate to spend time away from her developer husband, Robert.
Robert has bought a ghost town in Arizona with plans to create a luxury resort. Alice takes the opportunity to oversee the work as a means to escape and she and her children decamp to the desert town.
At first, I was frustrated at Alice for taking risks with her children's happiness and safety. Alice takes Jack and Emmy with her against their will and seems utterly unprepared for the harsh realities of the town. However, as I got to know Alice, I warmed to her and to her adventurous spirit.
The town is near the border with Mexico and the landscape is harsh. It's an alien way of life, peopled with strange, wild characters like Duval, the builder hired by Alice's husband, who is both mysterious and captivating.
Alongside the story of a family adventure and of Alice's escape from her old life, runs the story of the border. The many Mexican 'illegals' who risk their lives during the dangerous crossing through the desert.
The border narrative criss-crosses the past with the present and Alice is drawn into this dark, dangerous world. Ultimately, Alice must decide on which side of the line she belongs.
The descriptions of Arizona, of the border guards and the struggle between them, the traffickers and the - often desperate - immigrants, is convincingly portrayed.
I was slightly annoyed by the convenient way in which Alice's children seeemed to disappear from the narrative whenever Alice needed to be free of them (most of the second half of the book), but this is a minor quibble in a rip-roaring adventure story with an exciting setting.
Rating: 4/5
Like this? Try: Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith