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Amy Wilson has found herself at the center of a firestorm that threatens her life, her family, and possibly her town. Amy serves on the local school board, and the board’s policies regarding mask mandates and vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have sparked outrage within the community. The school board meetings often devolve into chaos as irate parents tear into both the board’s advocation of strict COVID policies and their perceived woke politics. Amy begins to fear for her safety and her teenage son’s when she is accosted by an upset parent outside the school. While Amy relays her concerns to her father, Marty Stauffer believes his campaign of disruption has only just begun. Marty is an independent political operative who believes the town of Mesa Vista is ready for a change at the local level, and he will pull out all the stops to accomplish his objectives.
The country has experienced divisions before, but the COVID-19 crisis further widened the divide. Questions about personal freedom clashed with perpetuating the greater good. Those who questioned the lockdowns, social distancing, masking, and vaccine policies were labeled as “conspiracy theorists” who were acting in their selfish interests. Similarly, the town of Mesa Vista is a population divided, where people in authority, such as Amy Wilson, see the pandemic as straightforward, whereas her detractors see it as ambiguous. The tension is palpable from the very beginning.
The narrative is told from multiple perspectives, which provide considerable depth to the story. Amy Wilson is a caring mother and believes she is acting in the best interest of her community with the school board’s advice. Her father, Tom, survived polio but also watched for future epidemics while working for the Colorado Department of Public Health. Their reaction to the vitriol unleashed against Amy goes from shock to disgust to anger. Their counterparts are men like Ray Moore, a die-hard right winger who bemoans the country’s downward trajectory, and Earl, a fellow polio survivor who believes a vaccine caused his affliction. Machiavellian masterminds like Marty Stauffer easily manipulate men like these.
The emotional component of the story revolves around Amy’s conflict between duty and her family. Despite the ceaseless harassment she and her family receive, Amy equates quitting with failure. However, she will also not let harm come to her loved ones. The battle waging inside Amy’s heart is relatable and authentic.
A town dissolving into pandemonium is both terrifying and intriguing and evokes thoughts of stories like "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" by Rod Serling and books such as Under the Dome by Stephen King. Reason and logic are dueling it out with fear and paranoia, whether justified or not. The political slant of the story is evident from the beginning, yet it doesn’t diminish the emotional impact of the story. The memories of the COVID-19 pandemic are still raw, and the debates about its response are still being had, but this character-driven drama is both timely and readworthy. This is a thought-provoking read for this year and beyond.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review