INTO THE WHIRLWIND

Camden's historical story tries to spin the lives of the people of the 57th Illinois Watch Company and Hartman's Department Store into the devastation of the Great Chicago Fire. An informative author's note at the end of the book fleshes out the history, but the characters and love story lack life. Morgan Hallett narrates as if she is racing to get to the end before the fire engulfs her, but there's little emotion or suspense in her telling. To be fair, she has little to work with. The main characters, Zach and Mollie, lack depth, or even likable personalities, and their trite path to romance is a distraction from the more intriguing part of the story, the fire and its aftermath. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2014]