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Product Details:
Author:
Donna Cousins
Paperback:
266 pages
Publisher:
iUniverse, Inc.
Publication Date:
July 28, 2005
Language:
English
ISBN:
0595356605
Package Length:
8.8 inches
Package Width:
6.0 inches
Package Height:
0.9 inches
Package Weight:
0.9 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 10 reviews
Description:
Mark folded the tarp and carried it and the locked box into the potting shed. He laid the tarp on a shelf and sat on the overturned clay pot Fred had used as a stool. Rubbing his eyes he stared bleakly at the old metal file that held the seeds of something too awful to imagine. Nothing had prepared him for this.
At the peak of a high-powered corporate career, Mark Grant enjoys position, prestige, and a loving family. His world is shaken when he abruptly loses the job that has been the focus of his life. He starts anew as the owner of a small but profitable landscape business and—just when he seems to have regained his balance—discovers that the company he owns is part of a vast network that threatens not only his livelihood, but the very lives of his family, friends, and countless other innocent victims. He begins to collect evidence of illegally dumped biohazardous waste to present to the Department of Environmental Health, but the risk of exposing the illicit activity intensifies when the criminals threaten his daughter’s life.
Will Mark be able to stop an environmental disaster and, at the same time, save his family and his business?
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:
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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A landscape of horrorMar 06, 2007 Is there anything creepier than finding bio-hazardous medical waste in a place you'd least expect it? Say, syringes, an angioplasty ring or parts of blood filters washing up on a sandy beach, or in the earth around a prize rose garden where your young daughter's puppy digs? Donna Cousins has put this horror center stage in her first suspense novel. Right from the beginning we know we're in for something different. This author understands the intricacies of banking, small business, medical products and professional landscaping--most literary writers only know books, teaching and more books.
The author's use of omniscient point of view to follow different characters, short chapters and an absence of description (other than that of plants) distance the reader at first. But as this plot-driven novel progresses those choices allow tension to build quickly, and Cousins sensibility to interpersonal dynamics--also unusual even for a female mystery writer--adds real menace when the members of the central figure's family are threatened. It turns out no detail we are given is insignificant and things are not always what they seem. By the way, did you know that the average hospital generates over eight thousand tons of regulated medical waste per month?
LANDSCAPE is more than a page-turner. There are subtle touches. When the husband resists a kiss by a woman who he is attracted to, we read, "The bee on the sill buzzed noisily and flew smack against the glass." Raymond Chandler metaphors watch out! Could Cousins have made more of the setting, atmosphere and characters? Yes, the LA locations do seem generic, and there isn't one character I either care about or dislike more than the next; but scenes between people are strong and this is a writer who can dramatize action, spring surprises and deliver a satisfying, even inspiring, denouement. Plus, the fifty-page climax of the book is one of the most exhilarating stretches of suspense writing I've read in ages. "Make it new," Ezra Pound once entreated poets. Donna Cousins has done just that for mysteries. And those who read them as well as those who don't should stand up and applaud.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A Gift for Film MakersDec 20, 2006 Not only is Landscape an arresting page-turner, it also is a language lover's delight. This is prose written by a pro. Donna Cousins introduces literary sparkle to the thriller genre. Alliteration abounds along with inventive metaphor and clever characterizations. This book is a gift, as well, for the film maker who recognizes its easy adaptability to the screen. Without revealing the plot, let me say that I believe I would suffer a serious case of the creeps if I ever visited a super store garden center again. I'll stick with the mom-and-pop indies like the one the independent-thinking Cousins portrays.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
RivetingSep 24, 2006 LANDSCAPE readers will find the novel rooted in Los Angeles scenes and lifestyle, telling of a corporate executive who enjoys a perfect world - until it's shaken by losing his job. His new self-employment seems to work until he discovers a secret about the landscape business which will wreck his life - and discovers the evidence he's collecting about the illegal bio-waste could threaten his family's life. It's a choice between family lives and wider community safety that keeps this novel riveting.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
LandscapeSep 30, 2005 Fast moving page turner...a quick and fun read. Really gets your heart pounding!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A sparkling debut novelSep 19, 2005 Beautifully crafted and still fast paced. I couldn't put it down. Donna Cousins has managed to weave a story of timely intrigue with a vast knowledge of subjects as diverse as horticulture, environmental waste and the banking world.
You'll care about Andrea and Mark Grant, a couple thrown into a life crisis which rapidly escalates into terrifying chaos, but it's their daughter, Lindsey, the precocious child who'll grab hold of your heart. ("...an ebullient seven-year-old who talked the same way she swam--in breathless bursts that propelled her, lickety-split, to the deep end of long sentences.") I had to stay up into the early morning hours to be sure the characters were safe.
Thrillers are not normally my favorite books because they tend to be so pace driven that I don't find them well written. Landscape is an exception to this with its magical metaphors and language so perfect I found myself stopping to savor it. How refreshing to read a thriller that was created with such skill and care. Hats off to the talented Ms. Cousins for a sparkling debut novel. One thing I know for sure - from now on I'll be wearing my gloves while I weed my garden!
based on 10 reviews
