Review: Maiden Rock

Maiden Rock grabbed my interest at page one and didn’t let up until the end. Deputy Sheriff Clair Watkins’ daughter Meg and her best friend Krista had permission to attend a Halloween Party. Meg was allowed to spend the night at Krista’s. But Krista did not return to her home and Meg was no where to be found.

The parents were terrified and unable to decide which way to turn. They wanted to give the girls the benefit of the doubt and assume they were just joy-riding but on the other hand all kinds of horrors went through their minds as the minutes ticked by and turned into hours and still no word from the girls.

Maiden Rock was an obsession with some of the kids. There was a story connected with the rock of Winona an Indian maiden who jumped from the rock to her death to avoid marriage to an old Indian warrior.

Clair receives a call from a local farmer that a car has been spotted on his land close to Maiden Rock and when she goes to investigate she finds the body of Krista her daughter’s Meg’s best friend. Was it a suicide, was she pushed; nothing on the scene can answer those questions.

When Clair finally finds her daughter Meg and tells her the news Meg is crushed and feels she is responsible for her friend’s death. The friends had argued at the party before going their separate ways.

The investigation into Krista’s death shocks the community because it is found that meth was involved in the death. When a trailer catches fire it is proven that the trailer was being used to produce meth.

So many lives in the community are touched in different ways by Krista’s death and the discovery of the production of meth in their small community. The author does a great job of showing how the innocent can be sucked into becoming dependent on the drug. Families are destroyed by the drug. Many fight back but a lot of damage has already been done.

Maiden Rock is a great mystery and also is a good instrument to show adults how drugs affect their loved ones and hopefully give someone the courage to try to do everything that can be done to discourage the use of drugs and the sale of drugs in their communities.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM

Book Review: Maiden Rock