The Garden of Eden

I'm not going to lie, I'm really tired right now. I wrote my own book review for a book called The Garden of Eden.

This book is not a retelling of the Bible's premiere story. It is an exceptional, modern novel written by Eve Adams (a pseudonym for a best selling author) that I would recommend to anyone who likes to read.

The story takes place in Eden, population: 47. On his first drive through Eden, trooper Sam Neely is positive he will rot from boredom in this town, but as we all know, the smaller the town, the worse the scandal. Soon though, everyone has something going on and is trying to keep a secret, a feat made impossible thanks to the gossiping tongues.

Trooper Sam Neely is fresh out of the State Police acadamey and finds himself assigned to the dullest backwater town he's ever heard of. Things heat up quickly in Eden, U.S.A., however, when Ed Harris, the banker, finds his wife in bed with his best friend, Hayden Elkins. Ed picks up a shotgun, escorts them both to the door and tells his friend Hayden, "Guess what? She's yours!"
"I've got a wife, Ed." says Hayden
"Now you have two."
Forced to take his paramour to live under his own roof (after all, they had only intended to share an afternoon of delight, not to leave their spouses), Hayden suddenly finds himself the butt of every joke in town. That's where things start to spin out of control.
Before long, Elijah Murphy, the town drunk, and the snooping widow next door, to whom he'd exposed himself, are folling in love; sleazy Sheriff's Deputy Delmar Clay is about to get a butt-full of birdshot for the pictures he's been snapping of young couples getting hot and heavy in parked cars; and the Barrow Boys are out of jail and looking for trouble. Soon, Neely finds that managing the crises in the sticks is a full-time job, and it takes a whole community-from the comparrionate local magistrate to the new female preacher-to keep things from exploding big-city style.

What makes the story that could have easily become too complicated and impersonal to follow such a work of art is Eve Adams's remarkable way of capturing every character from their own point of view. Male and female, young and old, she captures the true emotion of everyone as if she had experienced their lives first hand.