BOOK NOOK REVIEW

SUN TUNNELS and SECRETS
by
Carole Thayne Warburton

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and in some cases, I’d have to agree, but you can bank on the award-winning and mysterious cover of “Sun Tunnels and Secrets” to intrigue you from first glance, and lead you into a small town adventure with twists and mysteries galore.

Carole Thayne Warburton drew from her personal experience of the region as she wrote this charmer. Two diverse cultures clash near remote, religious Grouse Creek, Utah when this innocent world with a pocketful of well-kept secrets is upended by the arrival of hippies and tree-huggers who converge upon the desert’s Sun Tunnels during the summer solstice.

The author grabs your attention with the first line—“It looked like a body.” And the unexpected pairing of that start with a cast of frequently grousing, eighty-something sisters on a trip to help their youngest sibling mourn the passing of her husband, takes you through the first of many hairpin plot twists.

The ladies’ disturbing discovery, and their handling of the situation, entangles them into the troubles of four young people, who become invested in a complicated, sometimes raucous, and frequently tender quest. As they dig into everyone else’s secrets, their own begin to be revealed, and the principles of loyalty, love, and forgiveness are put to the ultimate test. In the end, the greatest theme is this: despite our differences, at our core, we are the same.

Ms. Warburton’s dialogue is delicious, her characters are rich and diverse, and her settings make you want to book a pick-up tour of the old western desert. I was so inspired, I went online to research the Sun Tunnels and I hope to visit them soon.

I did find the letters between the wounded Kelli and her brother, placed at the beginning of most chapters, to be more distracting than insightful, but they don’t detract from the pleasure this sweet novel will bring the reader.

Moreover, Carole Thayne Warburton has intricately woven multiple plots into a suspenseful story that will challenge and delight readers of all ages and genres.

Published by Walnut Springs Press, Sun Tunnels and Secrets is available at Amazon, Deseret Book,and your local LDS bookstore.