Review: Set the Dark on Fire by Jill Sorenson

Shay Phillips know her way around Dark Canyon. She's handy with a gun and can track a wild animal with the best of them. It's humans who usually give her the most trouble. And with a hormonally charged teenage brother to raise-- and an admitted weakness for the wrong kind of man -- Shay's got more than her share of challenges. Then there's the matter of murder. As an expert on mountain lions, Shay is skeptical when a local prostitute turns up mauled without a drop of blood near the body.

Now, together with the town's newly arrived sheriff, Luke Meza, a Las Vegas city boy with his own dark secrets, Shay must search for a killer in a dangerous valley filled with angry ex-lovers, unfaithful spouses, and poisonous snakes. But when suspicion falls on her own brother, and her attraction to Luke rages into a full-on erotic affair, can Shay quell the fires inside herself long enough to uncover the truth?

This novel is set in the mountainous areas of San Diego County in Southern California, an area that boasts one of the largest number of Native American reservations in the United States. It is settled and civilized in one way, but there has always been a wildness to this area. The heroine of this novel is a person who has had every opportunity to go elsewhere, to take all that she has learned and her excellent classroom education and degrees to another location, but she was born and raised in this country and that is where she wants to stay. Shay's family situation is less that ideal: her father is somewhere in Texas, having left the family long ago. Her mother is dead, having hanged herself a number of years earlier. Only she and her 17 year old brother are left, and her brother appears to be caught in the throes of the growing-up crisis that seems to be especially difficult for teenage boys.

Now we meet the newly arrived interim sheriff, Luke Meza, who was born on the Pala Reservation, but because of his parent's divorce, was only on the reservation during his summer vacations, while living in Las Vegas with his mother and stepfather the remainder of the year. He has left Las Vegas after nearly losing his life as a law enforcement officer who has managed to really upset several highly placed and powerful mob bosses. Coming to Shay's small town seemed like a good idea. Luke finds out that small towns don't necessarily mean simple living. The death of the town prostitute--seemingly after being mauled by a lion -- along with all the interpersonal garbage that seems to swirl around the "persons of interest" make this story a mystery/suspense/romance novel that is capable of capturing the reader's interest and holding on to it until the finish. Shay is a rockem sockem, live-life-to-the-fullest kind of gal, whose occasional interaction with an old boyfriend (who happens to be married) are a source of shame for her. Yet she is determined that her place in the world gives her worth and she wants her brother to find his stride and move on to become the man she knows he is capable of becoming. Luke, on the other hand, is a man who has been judged unfairly all his life because he was deemed a "half breed" and has decided that being open and outgoing is a recipe for insult and rejection. So you have Shay and her willy-nilly ways butting up against Luke's rigidity, and you have the perverbial literary sky lighting up with the sparks. That they are incredibly attracted to each other seems, at times, to be besides the point.

This is not a simple boy-meets-girl story. Shay and Luke's relationship is complicated and about as comfortable as sitting on a cactus. Sorenson has also written the brother's story as a concurrent tale that adds to the tension--his attempt to come of age sexually, his confusion as he tries to build a relationship with his girl, his curious and unexplained and continuing resentment and anger with Shay. Now add in the investigation into the death of the town prostitute which eventually becomes a homicide investigation, and you have a riveting and engaging novel. The characters are so very realistic -- those of us who live in So. California and who have resided in areas near where this fictional town in located can testify that Sorenson has populated her novel with authentic characters, the kind you could easily expect to meet on any of the little towns that exist throughout this part of the country. They are iconic characters as well -- the sheriff's deputy who is sullen and resentful -- a real jerk in so many ways; Shay's old boyfriend who has steadfastly refused to grow up and either hurts or damages every person whose life he touches; the faithful single Hispanic dad, father of the girl Shay's brother has come to love, who is trying to raise his children to be good people and who is overwhelmed most of the time; Shay's friends who love her for who she is but want her to find some joy in her own personal existence. All are the kinds of people one would find in almost any Western town.

This is a very good book -- multi-layered in its plot and full of interesting people. There are twists and turns that are surprising and in sufficent quantity to keep any ready happy. It will be a book that I believe most readers will find worth the time and effort. Sorenson is a very good writer and her work deserves our attention. I give this book a rating of 4.50 out of 5.