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A plethora of dark secrets

Tulip Chowdhury finds intensity in a tale
When the frozen body of a young woman is discovered on a crystalline Montana morning, the heart rendering story of a family in crisis begins to unfold. The members of a seemingly perfect family, the Coopers are caught up in event, emotions and twists of fate that alter their lives forever.
The Divide is a compelling novel and holds up a story that is beautifully crafted into its events. It comes with intricate details and gracefully transports us to the sun-warmed open spaces of Montana as well as its unforgiving cold mountain ranges. The Cooper family has been vacationing in Montana for many years. Little did they know that between one year's vacation to the next they were going to be scattered into places. Who knew that loves will be lost and they would end up hating the other? Sarah Cooper has been feeling that her marriage has hit a rock bottom and is likely to crack any moment. Her husband Benjamin is always “sullen and tumescent” as if they are new to each other instead of sharing a marriage of nineteen years. The Cooper family lives in New York and have a wonderful house that was designed by Ben himself. Abigail Cooper, the seventeen year old daughter is in love with Montana and takes admission in Montana University. When Abbie goes away to her university the emptiness between Sarah and Ben seems to spread and they drift more apart. Josh, the son is at home but he is away most of the time with his own friends. At one point Ben decides to move out. Sarah is devastated, she cries and raves but Ben is determined to live alone rather go on living like a guest in his own house. Sarah's friend Elizabeth tells her, “Marriage is like a plant. To keep it alive you've got to water it and feed it. If you don't, when kids are gone, you'll look in the comer and it'll be dead.” Sarah feels that indeed she had not taken care of her marriage!
As the family breaks up, Evans draws the emotional upheavals of the affected members so delicately and clarity that the characters seem to jump into the readers' skin. The scenes portraying marriage breakup and its fallout are unsettling and tormenting. Evans handles the male and female characters, kids, parents and grandparents with perfect precisions. Abbie, living away from home is hit very hard. She calls her mother occasionally but stops talking her father. Ben learns to live with the fact that his daughter for the "foreseeable future was lost to him."
As if looking for solace Abbie befriends a terrorist called Rolf and starts working for a environmental group that bums down building sites that are damaging to nature. They work for protection of green environment but under hand also go for terrorist attacks. In one of such attacks, Abbie and Rolf were engaged in the burning of a house when a man is killed. The police pick up Abbie's dog with her address and she is put under arrest order for murder. Before the arson took place Abbie has written "Nature Destroyer, Oil Greed, No Need” on the wall of the house and also written their initials. With the police on hot chase the story plunges into suspense and keeps the reader on grip of discovering new poignant details of the plot. Sarah and Ben are devastated when their very gentle daughter is sought for murder charge. Sarah continues to blame Ben to have started all these by deserting the family.
Eve, a woman the Coopers had met during one of their vacations meanwhile moves in close to Ben. Ben wonders if life will offer him happiness on a second chance. Josh is contacted by Abbie to get money for her from their grandfather. But the police are constantly on alert about Abbie getting in touch with her family. Josh is also under the risk of getting picked up by police if he helps his sister. Sarah calls Ben to come and deliver the money. Charlie, the local sheriff in Montana calls Sarah seeking information regarding Abbie's where about. At this point they become aware that their daughter is involved with Rolf, a wanted criminal. The family seems to be headed towards catastrophe.
The story here reaches the climax and events unfold with a plethora of dark secrets of this American family. There is momentary reunion of Ben and Sarah as the news of a dead young woman reaches them but that is a circumstance they would rather not be united for. The unwinding events that take the plot to the top of the pyramid shakes and jots the reader into holding breath and the story continues with its unpredictable events. Throughout the saga of the Coopers' family, Evans uses his brilliant and lucid language that keeps the reader reading and rereading a passage to relish the contents. In The Divide Evans marvels with the same intricacy of plot and real life like characterization that defined his international best seller The Horse Whisperer. The book begins with making the reader sit up with its intense opening scenario and ends leaving the reader to relive the whole story.
TULIP CHOWDHURY IS A CRITIC AND POET.