Book Review: One Mile Under by Andrew Gross

One Mile Under by Andrew Gross

Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: April 7, 2015
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Leading a tour down the rapids outside Aspen, Colorado, whitewater guide Dani Whalen comes upon the dead body of a close friend. Trey Watkins’s death is ruled an accident. Finding evidence that seems to back up her suspicions that it wasn’t, she takes her case to Wade Dunn, the local police chief and her ex-stepfather, with whom she shares some unresolved history. Wade insists the case is closed, but Rooster, a hot air balloon operator in town, claims he saw something from the air she should know. When he suddenly dies in a fiery crash, Dani threatens to take her suspicions public, goading Wade into tossing her in jail.

When an old friend contacts Ty Hauck and says his daughter is in trouble, he doesn’t hesitate to get involved. Together, the two step into a sinister scheme running deep beneath the surface of a quiet, Colorado town that has made a deal with the devil to survive. But in the square off between giant energy companies and beaten-down ranchers and farmers, one resource is even more valuable in this drought-stricken region than oil. They both will kill for it—water.

I chose this book because one of my favorite book bloggers, Jill at Rhapsody In Books, said in her review that not only was this book a fast paced thriller but the reader will learn about fracking and its implications. I knew this was a good book for me because all I knew about fracking before reading it was that it’s bad. I didn’t know exactly why or even what the process entailed. I had just seen clips on TV of people lighting the water coming out of their faucets on fire. This book was a truly fun way to learn about fracking. The information is seamlessly embedded into the story, there are no awkward character monologues or inauthentic information dumps.

The plot moves quickly and has several twists and turns. I found myself wanting to strangle most of the characters at one point or another, which I usually take as a good sign. If I wasn’t invested in the story, I wouldn’t have such strong feelings. Dani and Wade brought out this feeling out in me the most often. Wade was a selfish jerk and Dani was way too stubborn for her own good.

I enjoyed the relationship between Dani and Ty, who is her god-father. I was waiting for it to turn into a skeevy May-December lust thing, as formula dictates, but it never did. Kudos to the author for keeping Ty’s relationship to Dani paternal. I appreciated that Dani was a strong, smart woman who didn’t depend on Ty to save her most of the time. And Ty wasn’t an infallible macho man. He needed to be saved at times also.

This is the fourth book in the Ty Hauck thriller series but it can easily be read as a stand-alone.