Rock Bottom

Kick-ass environmental activist A.J. Palladino returns home with her young son to a small town in West Virginia to work for a lawyer who is battling a ruthless mining company. When the lawyer is found dead and his daughter appears to be the next target, A.J. takes on the town and faces old enemies to save the day. Coleen Marlo's smooth, clear voice, acting chops, and ability to make each character distinct cannot salvage this preachy novel, which could be titled "Erin Brockovich Redux." Even Marlo's considerable talent can't make up for the trite plot. A.C.P. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

January 24, 2011
Environmental and consumer advocate Brockovich has created a protagonist in her own image in this highly melodramatic thriller, the first in a new series. Angela Joy "AJ" Palladino left Scotia,
W.Va., population 867, as an unwed 17-year-old mother following a terrible accident that almost killed her. Ten years later, after success and fame in a battle against Capital Power that earned her the sobriquet "the People's Champion," she returns to Scotia, to assist lawyer Zachariah Hardy in a fight against Masterson Mining's new mountaintop removal project. When Hardy dies before AJ's arrival, she teams with Hardy's lawyer daughter, Elizabeth, to combat the company owned by dastardly Kyle Masterson and run by Kyle's son, Cole, father of AJ's son, David. As the two women wage an uphill battle against murderous opposition, Brockovich's environmental message gets buried in a sludge pile of clichés.