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    Flowertown
    Flowertown
    Flowertown
    Audiobook10 hours

    Flowertown

    Written by S.G. Redling

    Narrated by Tanya Eby

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Feno Chemical spilled an experimental pesticide in rural Iowa, scores of people died. Those who survived contamination were herded into a US Army medically maintained quarantine and cut off from the world. Dosed with powerful drugs to combat the poison, their bodies give off a sickly sweet smell and the containment zone becomes known simply as Flowertown.

    Seven years later, the infrastructure is crumbling, supplies are dwindling, and nobody is getting clean. Ellie Cauley doesn’t care anymore. Despite her paranoid best friend’s insistence that conspiracies abound, she focuses on three things: staying high, hooking up with the Army sergeant she’s not supposed to be fraternizing with and, most importantly, trying to ignore her ever-simmering rage. But when a series of deadly events rocks the compound, Ellie suspects her friend is right—something dangerous is going down in Flowertown and all signs point to a twisted plan of greed and abuse. She and the other residents of Flowertown have been betrayed by someone with a deadly agenda and their plan is just getting started. Time is running out. With nobody to trust and nowhere to go, Ellie decides to fight with the last weapon she has—her rage.

    Flowertown is a high-intensity conspiracy thriller that brings the worst-case scenario vividly to life and will keep readers riveted until the final haunting page.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 19, 2012
    ISBN9781455886050
    Flowertown
    Author

    S.G. Redling

    S.G. Redling is the author of more than a half-dozen novels. A Hoboken, New Jersey, native, Redling was raised in West Virginia. After graduating from Georgetown University and living in New York City and California, she resettled in West Virginia and launched a fifteen-year morning radio career. Now off the air, she still lives and writes in West Virginia, simultaneously pursuing obsessions with locavore dining, sustainable gardening, and international travel.

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    Reviews for Flowertown

    3.5/5

    107 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The author does an excellent job of exploring the impact of state-sponsored violence and control on various personalities while crafting a novel that draws you in. If you're looking for a character-driven suspense novel, give it a try.
    • 5/5
      When Feno Chemical spilled an experimental pesticide in rural Iowa, hundreds of people died. Those who survived contamination were herded into a US Army medically maintained quarantine and cut off from the world. Seven years later, the infrastructure is crimbling, supplies are dwindling, and nobody is getting clean. Ellie Cauley doesn’t care anymore. Despite her paranoid best friend's insistence that conspiracies abound, she focuses on three things: staying high, hooking up with the Army sergeant she's not supposed to be fraternizing with and, most importantly, trying to ignore her ever-simmering rage. But when a series of deadly events rocks the compound, Ellie suspects her friend is right—something dangerous is going down in Flowertown and all signs point to a twisted plan of greed and abuse.

      Wow, what a surprise! This book was a knock-out, despite running under the radar -- I’d heard about it a couple of years ago and stuck it on a to-read list, and there it rotted for a while, surviving the periodic purges but never really picked up. I started reading it, and didn’t do *anything* until I finished it. Great book.
    • 3/5
      Slow to start but it eventually picked up.
    • 2/5
      It was okay. The ending was great, but getting there was not quite worth it. I think the author partook in the bud a bit too much in doing research.
    • 4/5
      I found this engrossing. The development of the story was a little slow but I enjoyed all the plot twists.
    • 2/5
      While the author tries to explain away Ellie's behavior, she is just TOO unlikeable and unbelievable. No one, at least an adult over the age of 10 years old, behaves that way in real life. The deaux ex machina devices at the end were a bit ridiculous as well.
    • 5/5
      Even though suspense-filled books aren’t usually gripping or even interesting the second time through, one reading is not going to be enough for me with Flowertown. The characters are living, breathing, flesh and blood realized, the aftermath of disaster setting had my adrenaline working overtime from start to finish, and it’s filled with plot twists that--when they hit--were as disorienting to me as they were to the the characters, including one turnaround that’s such a doozy I want to go back and see how the author managed to pull it off so masterfully. Seven years ago the chemical spill of an experimental pesticide killed scores of people in rural Iowa, and those who survived are still living in hell. The properties of this pesticide make people who have been exposed to it carriers, so they’ve been herded into a compound, quarantined by the US Army, and compelled to take drugs that wreak havoc on their bodies in an effort to keep them alive and prevent the spread of the poison. Everyone who takes the drugs gives off a sickening sweet smell, hence the name Flowertown for the containment zone. After years of isolation the infrastructure is crumbling--it’s hard to get anybody in to fix things--and since TV and internet rarely work they are almost completely cut off from the world in their dilapidated outpost.We see all of this through the eyes of Ellie Cauley, who has a hair-trigger temper but has given up expecting anything to get better. Her best friend is full of conspiracy theories and her roommate is enduring extra debilitating drugs in the hope that she can suppress the pesticide's affects long enough to attend her sister’s Las Vegas wedding, but Ellie spends her time getting high and fraternizing with an army sergeant. That is until it starts to seem like her paranoid friend is right. When their situation starts to become even more suspect and sinister, Ellie fights back with the only thing left to her, her rage. Don’t start this book late at night--it’s very hard to put down once you begin reading it.
    • 1/5
      I tried to bring myself to finish this book, but just couldn't do it. I got tired of the main character Ellie's "piss poor" attitude and the shallowness of all the characters. I suppose I would have the same attitude were I in the same circumstances as they were. But, after reading over half the story without nearly any development, the plot became rather mundane and contrived. Sorry. I tried. Moving on.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It reminded me of James Howard Kunstler's writing. I liked the sequential flow of the plot with the focus on the daily routines to help build momentum. The author also kept me guessing about the ending. I thought this book was well-written. Imagine what would happen if a major chemical spill happened that resulted in the quarantine of an entire community? What would life be like under such conditions? What if you were just passing through to another destination when you happened to get caught in this disaster and now had to make it your home? We meet Ellen Cauley seven years after the chemical spill trying to cope with this situation. Those who enjoyed Stephen King's Under the Dome or Kunstler's work may also enjoy this story. It isn't a YA story due to the language and protrayal of drug usage.
    • 4/5
      This story is told through the eyes of Ellie, whose health is compromised through contamination from an experimental pesticide. As a result, she is forced to live in a secure town, called Flowertown, which is run on very authoritarian lines.At the start, Ellie is more interested in her relationship with Guy, one of the soldiers sent to “police” the town – a relationship which is forbidden and has to stay hidden. However, as conditions in Flowertown get worse, Ellie finds herself caught up in events she simply has to get to the bottom of.I loved this book. It’s a thriller, so you expect it to be plot led, and indeed the plot is well constructed and credible, the pace starts slow and increases as the tension builds up, and there is a twist that I didn’t see coming.However, what makes it stand out for me is the quality of the characterisations. The characters are likeable and empathetic. You can really imagine being there yourself and understand just how awful their situation is and how helpless and trapped they feel.An original idea, a compelling story, and great characters … I hope they make a film of it!