About the Book
IN THE SHADOW OF THE PLAGUE is an environmental and family saga set in the Eugene area of Western Oregon. Delbert Killian is a hardy, opinionated, builder and landlord of seventy years who has a bisexual girlfriend half his age, is in the middle of divorcing his latest wife, and still chops his own firewood. Delbert has been designated executor of a distant relative's trust, which consists of ten square miles of timber along the edge of the Willamette National Forest. He is instructed to get the land accepted into the National Forest, if possible; if not, to log it and distribute the proceeds among some twenty beneficiaries, who include most of Delbert's extended family. The wife he is divorcing, Sandra, picks up the narrative in chapter 4, and thereafter Delbert narrates alternate chapters with Jason, one of his sons; with Laralee, Jason's girlfriend; and with Herman, Sandra's gangster boyfriend. While the beneficiaries pressure Delbert to log the land and distribute the money, he develops a plan to help the residents of Blue Blood Creek, an unincorporated village located on trust land, to incorporate and buy their homes, which would in turn pay off debt that blocks the inclusion of the trust lands into the National Forest. A physical assault on Delbert leads into a subplot involving Herman and his enforcer, Tiny, who is inadvertently murdered. Delbert loses his girlfriend, Lucy, to his niece, Florence, a relationship he ultimately blesses by presiding over their marriage.
Review :
Solbach presents a novel about family, the environment, and real estate in the Pacific Northwest.
Delbert Killian is a rather spry man in his 70s, living in the time after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. When he is not hanging out with old friends, he tends to be off managing one of the several properties he owns in the Eugene, Oregon, area. The novel also tells the stories of various people in Delbert's orbit, including his son, Jason, who would like a loan from his dad so that he can buy a tire shop. Jason has a chance meeting in a laundromat with someone he knew in high school; she's now a sex worker who's upfront about her intentions: She wants Jason for sex, but has plans to eventually settle down with another woman. There's also Sandra, Delbert's ex-wife, who's taken up with a wealthy man named Herman. The source of Herman's funds is a mystery to her, although it later becomes clear that he's not exactly an upstanding citizen. As these and other characters enter and leave Delbert's life, his main concern is something called the Benson Trust, for which he is the successor trustee. Benson died the previous year, and Delbert's instructions are to attempt to get the land that the deceased left behind into the Willamette National Forest. If he fails to do so, the property will be clear-cut, but it's a complicated affair that requires Delbert to take into consideration the wants and needs of several different parties, including people who are currently living on the land in question.
Different characters take turns narrating, but Delbert always remains at the heart of the story. Solbach brings him to life with such details as his love for his pet cat and his environmental concerns about "the new normal great Western drought"; indeed, Solbach makes worries about the state of the environment a recurring theme of the novel. At one point, a woman who's staunchly against the idea of clear-cutting exclaims, "Fucking tree farms are the apologia of clear-cut, nothing lives. All dies!" As such, readers will feel immersed in the Pacific Northwest setting, which never feels sketchy or generic. However, the book's detailing of the finer points of real estate transactions, while also immersive, don't have as much dramatic punch. Also, the issue of the Benson Trust is hardly the only land issue on the novel's docket. A late development, for instance, has Delbert interested in purchasing a condo and asking his agent to "check the MLS for similar properties" and find "another unit available in the same complex, a two bedroom they're asking $250,000 for," but readers will feel little sense of risk or intrigue in such passages. Nevertheless, the text incorporates plenty of conflict, and even moments of violence, because as tranquil as a place like Eugene might seem, it's also portrayed as a place where people live, die, and steal. There's plenty of treachery to be found-and not all of it comes from ex-spouses..." - Kirkus Reviews
