A young woman is found dead underneath ice in the Rocky Mountains, someone who was an ecoterrorist wanted for murder. This is the story of how she happens to end up there and how she died, plus about her family that was affected in many ways by the parents' divorce. The son and daughter handle things very differently. Each member of the family appears in the book. ( )

When two back-country skiers discover the body of a young woman, frozen into a high-country Montana stream, the corpse is quickly identified as that of an ecoterrorist and accused murderer long sought by the FBI.

But how Abbie Cooper got there is another story indeed; one that reaches back miles and years and through the tangled history of one family.

Evans does a great job keeping things moving, and creates characters who are compelling even when they aren’t being particularly likeable. ( )

Leslie

The Divide reveals the story of a family slowly torn apart by divorce, criminal offence and depression. Although a seemingly complex storyline, The Divide proves to be a simple and rather slow story which takes you chronologically through the events which led to the interesting mystery you are presented with at the beginning of the book.

Evans' drama routinely skips between the different personae as the storyline gradually progresses. As each reveal of the plot passes, the character most responsible or affected by the event takes the lead in the story and the book remains easy to follow despite these character changes. Each of the characters are well-written and easy to imagine. At times the realism of the family and the nature of the events experienced enable you to imagine how you and your own family would fare in similar circumstances. The emotion is certainly present. The most well written and intricately described moments in the book however, remain those of the scenery; predominantly set in the West of USA, Evans' descriptions of the mountains, valleys and landscapes easily paint a beautiful picture in your mind.

Evans' is the best-selling author of The Horse Whisperer, a book which in my opinion surpasses this work of fiction. The Divide, though cleverly and emotively written, in my opinion, remains a rather slow and unexciting story despite the promise of the plot. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys slow and detailed family dramas but for a bit more of a suspenseful and thrilling kick, I'd look elsewhere. Alternatively, if you want to stick to the same author, I'd choose The Horse Whisperer over this story any day. ( )

This book is mainly set in Missoula which is the main city in the Bitterroot Valley and one we visited on our trip. So that made it interesting to me personally. It was also an interesting story about a marriage breakdown and how that affects the husband, wife and their two children. The daughter gets involved with a radical ecological group or at least one radical person who is an ecological terrorist. I thought the character of the husband, the one who caused the breakup of the marriage, was more sympathetic than that of the wife and I suspect that is because the writer is a man. There was also one thing which was never explained (I don't want to go into details because I don't want to spoil the ending) and which is crucial to the denouement. Other than that, it was a good read. ( )