Deep Down by Deborah Coates: 'That's the thing, we knew were home."
Deborah Coates is out with a sequel to her South Dakota rural fantasy Wide Open and I just read it and it is really really good.
That doesn't sound like what a professional book reviewer is supposed to say, but it's how I feel.
In Wide Open, Afghanistan vet Hallie came home to investigate the death of her sister. Hallie died in Afghanistan for seven minutes and since then she has been able to see ghosts. They don't talk to her but they hang out around her and through the ghosts she uncovers this whole mad plot by a crazy guy to control the weather.
And that's all I'm going to say because you need to read it to find out what happens.
In Deep Down, Hallie is wondering if she should stay in South Dakota. She has solved the mystery surrounding her sister, defeated the bad guys and now she's just not sure if staying at home with her dad is the right thing to do. Her military career is over and is ranching what she wants to do? There's a tantalizing job possibility and maybe she needs to find herself. But then there's a ghost and some dogs that aren't alive or dead (or ghosts) and Death and, well, a hole helluva a lot of bad stuff.
So Hallie has to stick around for awhile.
BUT...what makes Deep Down so good is that while the fantasy is great and I enjoy the world building a lot, it's the characters that Coates has created here that I truly adore. Hallie smart and tough but also very realistic - she doesn't know what she should do and she's scared she's going to make the wrong decision. Things are complicated by her budding romance with local cop Boyd. They are halfway to being serious but not quite there enough to be sharing life-changing decisions. The two of them are trying to figure themselves out as a couple and it's nice to see; it's very adult and normal and the fact that dead people are trying to kill them while they do this is just icing on the fantasy cake.
The romance is just a small layer to the novel though; in fact it's more about the consideration of relationships rather than what you think of when you think romance. Here's a passage between Hallie and her father that I just love that shows you what Coates is doing in the midst of all the battling against evil forces:
He smiled. "Before you were born, or Dell either, your mom and I went to Florida for a couple of weeks. We did all the things you're supposed to do--snorkeling, parasailing, took a boat ride through the Everglades. And it was --different as hell--but that was part of it. We flew back into Rapid City at night and it was starting to snow as we headed back here. Snowed harder and the wind came up and it was pretty much a whiteout by the time we hit the end of the drive. We made it up to the house, practically sideways the whole way. We didn't have boots, coats, nothing. Snow over our shoes and we're bent against the wind crossing the yard.
"Then it stopped. Snow still falling, but straight down and the moon came out. Your mom and me, we stood there in the cold like idiots looking out across the fields all clean and still and home. That's the thing, we knew were home."
He looked at her finally. "It's not prettier or better than other places and it sure as hell isn't an easy place, but I know how to live here. And that counts."
And that is what made this book such a winner for me. It's about who you are and where you belong and the people you want to be part of that decision. It's thoughtful while still being full of mystery and danger and magic. It's just a good story and I can't wait to see where Coates takes these wonderful characters next.
