May 30, 1994
Garlock ( Tenderness ) brings to atmospheric, energetic life a hard-edged, meaty story of passion, sin and redemption. Branded a slut in her Idaho logging community, unwed mother Dory Callahan tends the homestead for her beloved brother James and brutal half-brothers Milo and Louis. When mysterious Ben Waller arrives at the logging camp accompanied by his deaf daughter Odette, he quickly learns the sad history of Dory's brief affair with the sensitive son of a rival logging family, an affair that left her pregnant and her lover dead. Despite her past, Ben is won over by Dory's maternal sweetness, which also works wonders on the fragile, lovely Odette, who is just beginning to blossom into womanhood. Fearing a spate of savage killings of whores and Indian women in the area, Ben and James share protective watch over the women, foiling rape attempts by timber scum and much skullduggery from the vile, sadistic Louis and Milo and their cabal of ``river rats.'' As secrets and true identities are revealed, conflicts resolved and resolutions reached, the twisting turns of the well-paced tale come full circle. For those who like their romances dark, emotionally complex and brimful of grit, Garlock holds the reins masterfully.