High Plains Tango

March 21, 2005
A mysterious loner tries to find love and peace of mind in rural South Dakota in Waller's latest, a tepid, unfocused novel that begins when a handsome, independent drifter, Carlisle McMillan, arrives in the tiny town of Salamander. McMillan is the son of Bridges of Madison County
photographer Robert Kincaid; he previously appeared in A Thousand Country Roads,
in search of his father. The California native and master carpenter with a Stanford degree finds his interest piqued by Salamander, and he buys an abandoned house just outside town, making plans to rebuild it. But trouble comes calling when a corrupt developer decides to seize McMillan's house as part of a potentially lucrative highway project; McMillan fights back with a well-organized battle plan that gets him in trouble with most of the town's residents. Romance is in the offing, too, of course: McMillan takes up with comely Gally Deveraux shortly after her brutish husband dies, but the real object of his desire is beautiful Susanna Benteen, a wild, mysterious woman who keeps company with the local Sioux as they observe McMillan in his fight against the highway project. Waller offers a bit more substance here than in other post-Bridges
offerings, but he's still hamstrung by cliché. The result is yet another half-baked attempt to recapture the magic of Madison County. Agent, David Vigliano.

June 15, 2005
Waller here extends "The" "Bridges of Madison County "franchise by focusing on the son of photographer Robert Kincaid, the original book's protagonist. Master carpenter Carlisle McMillan is disgusted by the big-city developmental mind-set of forsaking quality for quantity to turn a quick buck; he becomes restless, traveling throughout America and settling at last in the small town of Salamander, SD, home to sacred Indian burial grounds and the striking and mysterious Susanna Benteen. Drawing on the caring craftsmanship instilled in him by his surrogate father, Cody Marx, McMillan transforms a ramshackle house into a home only to find himself fending off government plans to build a highway through his property. Waller's tale leisurely meanders through the various lives that McMillan touches with the requisite pulling of the heartstrings. The abrasive attitudes of the townsfolk -along with the corruption of local politicians and businesspeople -serve as a counterpoint to the apparently faultless McMillan. Pat as it is, this novel will be in demand owing to the popularity of Waller's previous Kincaid titles. Recommended for all popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/15/05.] -Joy St. John, Henderson Dist. P.L., NV

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2005
Waller's latest book is centered on the son of Robert Kincaid, the hero of Waller's best-selling " The Bridges of Madison County" (1992). His name is Carlisle McMillan, and readers first leaned about him in the sequel to that book, " A Thousand Country Roads " (2002). Carlisle, an enigmatic drifter, has wandered from California to South Carolina and is headed back west when he happens on the small South Dakota town of Salamander. In the local diner, he meets one woman, the unhappily married Gally Deveraux, and then becomes entranced by another, ethereal outsider Susanna Benteen, whom he catches sight of one night. Carlisle decides to make his home in Salamander so that he can avoid "the great economic colossus called progress." Poor Carlisle's timing couldn't be worse; in the hopes of invigorating the area, a plan is afoot to build a highway that will run right by Salamander and right through the old house that Carlisle has spent months renovating. Feelings about the highway divide the town, but Carlisle is determined to fight it with everything he has. Expect huge demand for this title from readers eager to continue reading about the Kincaid family. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)