**A singularly compelling debut novel, about a desert where people go to
escape their past, and a truck driver who finds himself at risk when he
falls in love with a mysterious woman.
**
Ben Jones lives a quiet, hardscrabble life, working as a trucker on
Route 117, a little-travelled road in a remote region of the Utah desert
which serves as a haven for fugitives and others looking to hide from
the world. For many of the desert's inhabitants, Ben's visits are their
only contact with the outside world, and the only landmark worth noting
is a once-famous roadside diner that hasn't opened in years.
Ben's routine is turned upside down when he stumbles across a beautiful
woman named Claire playing a cello in an abandoned housing development.
He can tell that she's fleeing something in her past--a dark secret that
pushed her to the end of the earth--but despite his better judgment he
is inexorably drawn to her.
As Ben and Claire fall in love, specters from her past begin to
resurface, with serious and life-threatening consequences not only for
them both, but for others who have made this desert their sanctuary.
Dangerous men come looking for her, and as they turn Route 117 upside
down in their search, the long-buried secrets of those who've laid claim
to this desert come to light, bringing Ben and the other locals into
deadly conflict with Claire's pursuers. Ultimately, the answers they all
seek are connected to the desert's greatest mystery--what really
happened all those years ago at the never-open desert diner?
In this unforgettable story of love and loss, Ben learns the enduring
truth that some violent crimes renew themselves across generations. At
turns funny, heartbreaking and thrilling, The Never-Open Desert Diner
powerfully evokes an unforgettable setting and introduces readers to a
cast of characters who will linger long after the last page.
