Waiting for Spring by R.J. Keller

". . . a fast-paced novel filled with tension and suspense . . ."

R.J. Keller in her first novel, Waiting for Spring, transcends the life of Tess Dyer, who blames herself for her recent divorce. She refused to have a child and then had an affair. She wants out of town. In interior monologue she declares, “I might be Brookfield’s town whore, but I could sure scrub the hell out of a toilet.”

She packs her easel and art work and moves to a nearby lakeside community where she gets a job as a “cleaning lady”(the previous one was brutally murdered and it is suggested the motive is drugs). She falls in love with Brian, who rents the lower floor in the same house. Through her cleaning service, and involvement with Brian, she becomes acquainted with the community and the people, ultimately getting tangled up with in the local drug dealer.

Meanwhile Brian, at the behest of his late mother, parents his sister, Rachel, who involved with the drug dealer. Tess in her determination to protect Brian goes up against the dealer, and even contemplates murder. As a back story, the truth about Tess’s past emerges; her mother’s animosity against her, and we why the townspeople have such a poor opinion of her.

Keller’s plot is not complex but she succinctly weaves a story with the protagonist’s stream of consciousness complemented with extensive dialogue amongst down-to-earth characters.

It is a fast-paced novel filled with tension and suspense as Tess’s past comes in conflict with her new life. The characters are maddening but yet generate sympathy.

Reviewer: Kate Padilla