China Lake: An Evan Delaney Novel (Evan Delaney Series) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Meg Gardiner (Author), Tanya Eby (Reader)

Book Description

Series: Evan Delaney Series | Publication Date: June 3, 2008

Evan Delaney is shocked to learn that her ex-sister-in-law, Tabitha, has joined the Remnant, a religion with a dangerous and fanatical following. What is more alarming is that the unstable young mother plans to regain custody of her son and disappear with him into the fold of the church. She has the Remnant on her side, and they’ll do anything it takes – including murder – to get what they want. But it’s another member of the Remnant who’s killed, and when Evan’s brother becomes a suspect, Evan is dragged even deeper into the nightmare. “From beginning to end, China Lake is a book no reader of thrillers will be able to put down. Great characters, dynamic plot, nail-biting action – Meg Gardiner gives us everything.” – Elizabeth George

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Santa Barbara attorney Evan Delaney is gutsy and tough, but she has a tender side, too. She dotes on her nephew, Luke, who’s staying with her while his fighter-pilot father, Brian, is deployed overseas. (Brian, who’s stationed at the Mojave Desert naval weapons-testing center, China Lake, has been divorced from Luke’s mother, Tabitha, for years.) Evan’s peaceful cohabitation with Luke is thrown into chaos when Tabitha returns to town under the spell of the Remnant, a fundamentalist sect arming itself for the apocalypse with artillery and biological weapons. Tabitha wants Luke back—no questions asked. Brian comes home, and when the sect’s eerie leader is found dead in Brian’s backyard, the career military man is thrown in jail with little hope of release. Evan and her boyfriend, Jesse, come to Brian’s defense, prompting a flood of memories for Evan, who grew up in China Lake. Gardiner, an American who lives in Great Britain, renders a cast of compelling characters and a hair-raising plot that never stops. This is her second novel to be published in the States (after The Dirty Secrets Club, earlier this year); happily for readers, four more Evan Delaney mysteries are slated for release this summer and fall. --Allison Block --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

China Lake has echoes of the film version of Cape Fear, except that the menace in this story is not a lone psychopath, but a fanatical religious cult known as The Remnant. Evan Delaney is the feisty young heroine who must battle to protect her small nephew Luke from the evil clutches of the cult. The nightmare begins when Tabitha, Luke's mother, becomes involved with The Remnant and uses their power to try to regain custody of her child. Evan joins forces with her brother in order to counter the destructive plans of the group and their belief of a forthcoming Armageddon. These are the elements in Meg Gardiner's compelling tale, a powerful mix of murder, terrorism and a wealth of dark secrets. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed; Library edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423361164
• ISBN-13: 978-1423361169
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.1 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Meg Gardiner writes thrillers set in California. The Evan Delaney novels, featuring a Santa Barbara freelance journalist, include 2009 Edgar Award winner China Lake. The Jo Beckett series features a San Francisco forensic psychiatrist. The Dirty Secrets Club won the RT Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Procedural Novel of 2008 and was chosen one of the year's Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers by Amazon.com. Originally from Oklahoma, Gardiner practiced law in Los Angeles and taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She lives near London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradise can be Hell on Earth, when you finally get to read Meg Gardiner's first Evan Delaney Thriller, March 4, 2007

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: China Lake (Paperback)

I really wanted to read this book but getting it proved to be a tad difficult. Stephen King praised Meg Gardiner's suspense novels in his February 9th column on the back page of "Entertainment Weekly," but pointed out that while her novels are set in California they are only published in England. I could only get the fourth one, "Crosscut," through Amazon, but who wants to begin with book four in a series? I do not always pay attention to King's recommendations, but in the back of King's "From a Buick 8" he had recommended the excellent crime novels of K.C. Constantine about Chief Mario Balzac, so I turned to the Amazon across the pond for the other four. Gardiner's fifth novel, "Kill Chain," is not due out in paperback until Spring so I selected as "few shipments" as possible to just have everything shipped then. But then they shipped the second book, "Mission Cannon" to me, followed by the third novel, "Jericho Point," the next day, in what can only be considered a blatant attempt to drive me crazy. Fortunately it was only three days later when they finally shipped me "China Lake," the first "Evan Delaney Thriller," and it arrived on Thursday, which was good because that night the Zenith City got hit by a blizzard that dumped two feet of snow and precluded mail delivery on both Friday and Saturday. But I finally had the book in my hands and could find out what King was all jacked up about.

"China Lake" begins with a religious cult jeering at an AIDS funeral in Santa Barbara, California attended by Evan Delaney. When Peter Wyoming and The Remnant start spewing their hatred the better angels of her nature require her to get in this guy's face. She assumes he is just a bigot, but Evan is underestimating this guy, and when she discovers that Tabitha, her sister-in-law, is a member of The Remnant things start going downhill fast and furious. Tabitha was married to Brian, Evan's brother, and when she split on her husband, a Navy fighter pilot, it was Evan who ended up raising their six-year-old son Luke while Brian was away on carrier duty. Evan's immediate fear is that Tabitha will want Luke back, and she is determined to protect the boy. Fortunately as a Navy brat, a lawyer, and the author of a science fiction novel "Lithium Sunset" featuring the heroine Rowan (the novel is apparently quite popular in high desert cowboy bars), Evan has resources to go alone with her stubbornness and intelligence.

I was hooked by page one of "China Lake." I know somebody who was analyzing the speeches of Jim Jones as a snake oil salesman BEFORE Jonestown made the world aware of the Peoples Temple. So I was not totally surprised that I had a visceral reaction to The Remnant's rhetoric. I got through the first hundred pages or so that first night sitting up in bed reading and I had to spend another half-hour reading something lighter just to calm down enough to sleep because I was as riled up about the situation as Evan. Be warned that things move so quickly in this novel that it is hard to find decent stopping points because you are always interested in finding out what happens next. I could also identify with Evan's propensity to do more harm than good in trying to make things right. Fortunately she is aided and abetted by her boyfriend, Jesse Blackburn, and some other friends and acquaintances. One of the nice dynamics of "China Lake" is that Jesse and Brian do not get along and on top of the escalating situation as The Remnants decide to do more than await the Last Days, Evan is constantly in the crossfire between the two. Gardiner really likes to pour it on her heroine.

I did not recall any of the specifics of King's column regarding the plot of this book by the time I finally got my hands on "China Lake," which is the name of the military base where Brian has just been stationed. What I did remember is that King lauded Gardiner for being funny, and that comment is totally on point. Actually, since the book is told in the first person, I could say that Evan Delaney is funny but the point that made me literally laugh out loud was when two members of The Remnant were arguing over whether there is a colon or semi-colon in the particular verse from in the book of Revelation (I find hermeneutics fascinating, but when people are debating Scripture while holding firearms absurdity runs rampant). Gardiner has fun with the thoughts and utterances of her character, succeeding in walking that fine line where authors attempt to use words as their playthings. Combining thrills and laughs is a tough task and Gardiner totally succeeds in carrying it off. I also like her take on redemption in the end game of the book.

Gardiner lives in London, which explains why the books of an American author are being published in the U.K., a situation that should be shortly rectified by King's enthusiasm and the resultant boost in sales. As for me, even though it turns out I could have gotten them faster from the Amazon north of the border, I will continue to get the U.K. paperbacks because (a) I want them sooner rather than later and (b) I like the looks of these Hodder paperbacks with Larry Rostant's cover images that make the set look like a set. Now my only problem is that I only have two Meg Gardiner books in the house and if I proceed directly to the next one then I will only have one left until the others arrive. Indulging myself by reading them one after the other seems inappropriate to me because books like this need to be fully savored before moving on to the next one down the line.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Starts Fast. Gets faster., December 14, 2006

By 

Susan (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Lake (Paperback)

Meg Gardiner writes a great crime thriller. The action starts fast and keeps going. I was instantly engaged with the opening scene, a confrontation at a funeral between mourners and picketers, and from there, the emotional impact just doesn't let up. Meg gives us us characters we care about -- a lot -- and doesn't let us breath a sigh of relief till the very end.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars China Lake grabs your imagination, October 5, 2004

By 

David May (Reston, Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: China Lake (Paperback)

Meg Gardner's writing style is engaging and entertaining. She has a vivid imagination and China lake will take you a way for a while. The attention to geographic detail, while not taking it all the way to boring, strikes a nice balance here. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Looking forward to the next one.