CYCLE B  |  Book 1

Places of Home

PREVIEW | Places of Home

Miriam LaMarca is upset.  She's also vexed.  Not a happy pairing.

She's upset because she'd just finished reading yet another tabloid account of Gina's death.  The damn reporter didn't even have the grace to call it what it was: a murder.  The cretin instead engaged in some lurid sensationalism, saying it was suicide: Gina had gone out to her favourite dance club and picked up a guy who was keen to make a snuff film; she volunteered to be the victim.  This was ludicrous of course, but it was just the kind of story that sells lots of newspapers.

Miriam is vexed for two reasons.  The first has to do with Kari, the young woman she loves as a daughter.  Kari is now working for a company called Tavco; she's employed as a truck driver driving the ice roads in Canada's Arctic.  But come the summer, there might be no work for her.  If so, she'll return to Lucerna, the college town where Miriam resides.  But her stay will be temporary.  She'll be leaving in short order to hunt down the monster she calls Deimos.  This possibility scares Miriam to death.  Another scary prospect is that Kari's code of honour might compel her to go after Gina's killer.

Reason two has to do with Malory Ballantyne.  He too has no permanent home.  He's recently been telling people that he's found a new profession: vagabondage.  Last fall, he went up north to visit Kari, and Miriam took this as a sign that the bond he'd forged with the girl had grown stronger.  It had instead seemingly become weaker.  Miriam blamed Malory for this.  She couldn't figure out what was wrong with the man.  She asks herself whether he and Kari will ever be able to connect permanently, or whether they'll continue to be apart.

Places of Home is the latest novel in the Avernus Gate series.  From the very first chapter, readers find themselves asking the same question Miriam is asking of herself.