Mini-review: I really enjoyed that this book was about a mythology that I have never read before: the Aboriginal Dreamtime. It talked about Wandjinas and Quinkans, and Namarrkun the Lightning Man. I had a hard time wrapping my idea around these entities, but I understood enough of it to be able to keep up with the story.

At the same time, they talk about a story from Florida's past (around 1899/1900), and what appears to be an evil preacher at a little church close to where the MCs (Alice Waterston and her daughter, Margaret) live. Ms. Petty did a really good job of blending the two stories, so it didn't give you whiplash switching back and forth between them.

The characters were all very likeable and Ms. Petty is an excellent writer, in that she can describe a scene so that you feel you are actually looking at it. Let me be very clear, this is not a book for teens. There are violent parts and there is a rape, and although these things do not happen constantly throughout the book, I personally would not feel comfortable with my teen reading it. That is only my opinion.

I also thought the book started rather slowly. I almost gave up a couple of times, but because Ms. Petty is such a good writer, I stuck with it, and boy am I glad I did!! The second half of the book is just one thing after another, with all of the action that the first half is lacking. By the time I reached the end I felt like I had run a marathon! I was out of breath from holding it through the sticky, suspenseful parts of the book!

Overall, I give this book a 4 out of 5 because although it was slow at the beginning, it more than made up for it in the second part of the book.

"There was supposed to be a line where imagination stopped and cold reality existed - if you couldn't tell where the thin line between them was, you were judged insane or deluded or, in the old days, possessed." ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=651 ( )