UNCHARTED
TERRITORY - A MAD MAX MYSTERY
BY
BETSY
ASHTON
Reviewed
by C. Neuroticus Absolutus
Although a stand-alone
novel, Uncharted Territory is the second in a series featuring grandmother Mad
Max’s tribulations as she raises her two precocious grandchildren Emilie and
Alex. Since the death of her daughter, Max has traipsed after her son-in-law Whip
and the changing geographic of his work to allow the children the advantages of
having their father in their lives along with a dependable and financially
independent adult: Max. His most recent assignment takes him, Max and the
children into the Deep South where hurricane Katrina has ravished the lives of
millions. Whip and his crews immediately start work to repair and rebuild
sections of Route 90 along the Gulf shores in Mississippi. Max’s entourage consists
of a British tutor for the children and a boyfriend who share
custom-built trailers as their homes and a school bus fittingly converted into
a classroom.
The gathering of buzzards
darkening nearby skies soon leads Max’s boyfriend Johnny to discover the bodies
of three Hispanic workers who are undoubtedly the victims of murder. The local
Sheriff―with blatant, undeniable Southern bias―refuses to waste his time
investigating the death of illegals from Mexico. When additional bodies are
found, Max’s trailers and the shelters of the crews are fenced in and an armed
guard posted at the gate. They will provide their own security as a roaming
band of trouble makers circles nearby, daily threatening the working crews and
the children.
While seeking to identify
the young hoodlums, Max encounters racial tensions between two Baptist
preachers, one black, one white, both waiting for their flocks to return home
and to their ministrations. But the overpowering fist of Katrina had demolished
almost everything standing above ground level. Add to the mix a nearby Catholic
Church manse populated with a Hispanic woman, her teen-age daughter and a
physically and sexually abusive priest who has his eyes on the ripening young
girl. Max makes it her mission to save both the mother and daughter―if she can.
Ms. Ashton brings her
keen mind to bear on the hell-on-earth wrought by Katrina: the desolation; the
death of 1,833 people; the flooding that perhaps outmatches the destruction of
the hurricane-force wind; the palpable social, political and economic
devastation and the ruination of countless families’ unity. Within the short
sweep of Uncharted Territory, she exposes the pervasive discrimination, reveals
the disrespect for authority and propensity for violence among undisciplined
young men, and forces us to examine modern man’s puny attempts to face down the
un-dammable forces of nature. Ms. Ashton is a rising star in literature with
her acute observations about the current state of our society, the development
of heroic yet fallible characters and the interplay between them. An acerbic New-York-Yankee
wit comfortably rounds out Max’s characterization. If you’re looking for a
five-star read, get your copy of Uncharted Territory now.
