'Erosion' by Lon S. Cohen

TITLE – Erosion
AUTHOR – Lon S. Cohen
PRICE - $19.91 ($7.84 download)
GENRE - Thriller
ISBN – 978-1-4116-8492-8
PUBLISHER - Lulu
POINT OF SALE - LuLu

Canyon Park is bowed down under a relentless torrent of rain. The fields are flooded, the bridges crumble and the increasingly isolated town is host to a serial killer with a grudge against the wealthy Lollo family. The chapters move the plot along inexorably -- slipping between a small cast of characters; the killer, the tortured policeman hiding a dark secret, the returning son, the inquisitive librarian, the boy caught between cultures.... each of these marred, struggling humans a part of the threadbare fabric of the town. And throughout the story, secrets and motivations are slowly revealed, people continue to die, and it continues to rain.

The ensemble of characters seem to be facets of the real protagonist of the story -- the town itself, as we gradual learn of its history. The Lollo's callous domination of its culture and industry, their corruption even of the souls of the people. The Lollo's started the Indian Boarding Schools that seized and indoctrinated the children of the indigenous Oneidas clan. Bradley Lollo exploited the children in these schools and dominated the town in other ways, ruthlessly pressuring the police and putting a young officer on the road to his current life of guilt and quiet desperation. The Lollo's exploitation haunts the town in the form of casual bigotry, resentment and building anger that seems to find its outlet in the killer, and in the rain.

Bradley Lollo's grandson, Marc, returns to Canyon Park, through an unprecedented downpour, to learn that his Aunt' recent death was no accident. Gradually the killer's identity is revealed -- along with a great many other things. Many of the characters in 'Erosion' spring out of archetypes that could easily have strayed into cliché. Yet Lon S Cohen deftly breathes life into the prodigal son, the alcoholic cop, the pretty librarian in desperate need of her prince charming, and most especially into the killer--a man navigating a maze of delusions that become frighteningly plausible, heroic even, as we grow to understand where they have sprung from. From the dark heart and history of Canyon Park, slowly exposed to us, by a process of erosion.

RATING: 7.5/10

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10/10 Lulu

AVERAGE RATING: 8.75/10