Garden Grove Meadows, “Where families come to live.” A new housing development promises a better future in a growing bedroom community. A project that seems to be the eye of a storm of strange events. Plagued with vandalism, the work crew poisoned, altered blueprints, and human remains intentionally planted for the crew to find.
Someone... or something... doesn't want the new development of the Garden Grove Project to go ahead. The police have their hands full with suspects... a seemingly harmless little old lady, a group of locals who don't want this new development, as well as a grumpy old coot who seems to be wanting to protect the group, for their own good... there's even reason to suspect the man behind the construction project.
Mostly mystery, the novel reveals its supernatural ending that's been hinted through throughout the text, but easily dismissed. I thought the ending ended just a bit prematurely, as we learned the how and the why everyone was doing everything (plus the supernatural force has just been awoken!) and we're not sure what exactly the 'winner' is going to do with it. Nothing good, I'm certain.
The writing style is easy to get into and while we see quite a few characters, we don't know what motivates everyone until the very end. It's one of those mysteries that could take place in just about any old community, although it's hinted that this secret as well as that of a local family's dark past has been hidden from the world since the time of settling, make it so that this is a familiar story that could happen in a lot of places, bringing supernatural terror to your local neighborhood.
In the 1950s it was Levittown; in the new millennia it's GARDEN GROVE— idyllic communities to raise a family and live happily ever after. Wait...not so fast!
L.V. Gaudet weaves a fascinating tale of a new housing development faced with all forms of sabotage to discourage its existence. Akin to the 'The Monkey Wrench Gang,' anti-development, ecologically-minded misfits (or spiritual forces) set on preserving nature and an tranquil lifestyle, harass, vandalize, and do about everything else you can think of (including planting human bones) to dissuade the concrete invasion.
The writing is truly brilliant. Author L. V. Gaudet displays a command of the English language. Every word is perfectly placed. The mystery of who is doing what to who and why keeps the pages flipping by. I found this to be a very entertaining story; one which I think anyone from a small community could identify with and enjoy.