Road to Nowhere

Paul Robertson
Bethany House (2008)
ISBN 9780764203251
Reviewed by Lisa Kisner for Reader Views (7/08)


It sounds pretty simple.  A road is proposed to connect two remote towns.  The road will make the commute between the towns easier and bring together the communities, allowing change and growth.  The road provides endless ways to transform their towns and create new business opportunities and a wider customer base. However, not everyone wants change.  As the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors prepares to make their final vote on the proposed road, the county is divided into two sides -- those for and those against the road.  Neighbors, friends and family members turn on each other as the vote looms ever closer.   Questions arise as it comes to light that there are people outside the county intent on building the road for their own purposes.  As confrontations escalate the townspeople are faced with another question:  Would someone kill for the road? 

When you begin reading this book you enter the realm of small town politics.  Decisions that appear to be simple take on a whole new meaning when people you know are directly impacted.  This book is told from the point of view of the five supervisors.  It gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the thoughts and motivations of the people who must decide whether or not to allow the road to be built.   In the beginning, the reader may become confused as you rocket from one point of view to another, with only a space between paragraphs announcing the change.  However, the reader will soon adapt to this shifting easily as the characters become familiar.  The multiple points of view end up enhancing the story rather than detracting from it.  The main characters are well-developed and realistic.  In the end you feel as if you know them well.  It was very interesting to see each of them wrestle what is best for the town and what is best for their own personal interests. 

Embedded in the politics of the story is a finely-crafted mystery surrounding the death of a board member.  The author, Paul Robertson, throws out multiple red herrings in “Road to Nowhere” that succeed in keeping the reader guessing until the end on the motivation and identity of the killer.  Readers of fiction and mystery alike will enjoy this thriller about what happens when big changes are proposed for small towns. 

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