Set in a near future where the DSM 7 includes a diagnosis of “climate anxiety,” the first entry in the Steep Climes Quartet, Guenette’s pointedly realistic thriller series, opens with a bang, as Cynthia Wainwright witnesses the murder of the boss, apparently at the hands of a police officer, amid the scrub of the Mojave Desert. Cynthia had been scheduled to meet him to drive to a meeting with the head of an investor group interested in their company Carbon’s End, which is committed to “fossil fuel divestiture.” When Cynthia, stunned, gets a text from the boss she has just seen get killed—a boss with whom she has been sharing a sexual relationship—she flees the scene in a panic. She’s hunted (by a killer, by PIs she’s not sure she can trust) but eventually finds possible security with young Jimmy, a recent college grad she encounters on a train leaving a Chicago roiled by brownouts and climate riots.

Jimmy’s heading to the Berkshires to see his father, Davin Caine, an artist/farmer/consultant and “COVID divorcee” currently applying his skills to helping a local news startup survive. The mystery of who wants Cynthia dead will upend both men’s lives, as they uncover a conspiracy involving oilmen, lobbyists, PACs, and a powerful effort to protect fossil fuel profits. Guenette demonstrates a sure hand throughout for step-by-step investigations and how the world actually works: tracking, hacking, oil business shenanigans, how contract killers communicate, and even the struggles of raising sweet corn and running an Airbnb.

Despite the crackerjack opening, the novel is chatty and fitfully paced, especially in a first half that alternates Cynthia’s flight (and sensitively handled mental struggles) with Davin’s gardening, consulting, and property management. In these, Guenette explores, with a convincing edge of reportage, the realities of climate change, and plants seeds for this long novel’s strong final third. It’s all convincing and plausible, but thriller readers will be eager to get back to Cynthia.

Takeaway: Pointedly realistic thriller of murder, the fossil fuel industry, and climate activism.

Comparable Titles: Brooks B. Yeager’s Chilly Winds, Joel Burcat’s Amid Rage.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-