BENEATH THE BEDROCK

A middle-aged widow returns to North Dakota for her father’s funeral and rediscovers her attachment to her hometown in this debut novel.

After receiving news in Minnesota that her father, Buddy Altman, has died, Ramona “Mony” Brady-Strong boards a train to North Dakota. During the ride, she meets a handsome man named John and decides to escape her grief by spending the night in his sleeping car. Little does she know that John is also traveling to Williston, North Dakota, because of Buddy’s death. Mony has never shared the same last name as her father, and the oil-drilling industry is abuzz thinking that Buddy has died without an heir “to the substantial parcel of land he had owned, which included two producing oil wells.” When Mony reaches Williston, she learns that she stands to inherit unfathomable wealth from her father, but only if she asserts her claim to his holdings. She also reconnects with Nate Ferguson, her first great love, who is clearly still carrying a torch for her. As the big city oil magnates attempt to steal Mony’s birthright, her family and friends band together to protect their own. Yet as Mony lingers in Williston, painful secrets from her past emerge, and she wonders whether she can ever escape the mistakes of her youth. Bradley’s series opener suffers from some narrative pitfalls, such as shifting abruptly between differing perspectives and alternating precipitously between flowery prose and starkly functional statements. But the author has created complex characters who will keep readers turning pages. Bradley also manages to wield one suspenseful scene after another through the tension over the ownership of Buddy’s oil fields and mysteries about Mony’s past. The author deftly reveals juicy tidbits, answering certain questions while creating new puzzles. Chock full of information about drilling and ownership of mineral rights as well as details about the harsh realities of life in rural North Dakota, the book is an education on the oil industry. The volume ends with several unresolved plotlines, intended to lead readers to the sequel.   

A surprisingly compelling tale about family, loyalty, North Dakota, and oil drilling.