Fallout
Jordan Rosenfeld’s thriller Fallout spotlights environmental awareness and personal agency.
Project Nemesis, a band of rebels set on environmental protection, sabotage and blackmail shady energy companies. Their methods garner attention from Justine, a journalist in search of her next story. And soon after meeting with Nemesis, Justine’s life is toppled by her daughter’s death, leading to her newfound interest in Nemesis as a path forward.
Soon, Justine’s estranged friend Zoe, who heads her own environmental efforts, is forced to deal with Nemesis, too: they aim to thwart her husband Phil’s oil company using her fame and influence. The women also seek to heal from their traumatic pasts—Justine from her loss and subsequent self-exile, and Zoe from the unhealed wounds of a childhood spent around drugs with an absent mother. Zoe’s marriage comes into question as well following her husband’s ruthless opposition to Nemesis and the values they stand for.
The novel’s suspense increases when Nemesis is pulled into conflict with a violent faction of neo-Nazis who are tied to Phil, and the related chapters are fast-paced and heavy-hitting. Still, the story is most concerned with Justine’s and Zoe’s growth and their involvement with Nemesis, moving through their pasts, their shared desire for change, and their revived bond. Phil and Zoe’s daughter, Hannah, adds further intrigue, with father and daughter pulling Zoe in opposing directions—he demanding that she act as a doting wife, while Hannah reinforces her desire to support poor people and promote renewable energy solutions.
Fallout is a deep thriller in which two women forge new senses of personal identity and purpose, finding healing through their involvement with a radical environmental group.
Reviewed by
Brandon Pawlicki
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