I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

"A timely story of the anger and disaffection tearing apart many communities in this country, S.M. Hulse's Eden Mine is also a beautiful novel of the West, of a deep love for the land, of faith in the face of evil, and of the terrible choices we make for the ones we love. "

The writing is tangible (I could almost smell the fresh Montana air) - the characters and their emotions feel real. Good story, Hulse is now my newest favorite author.

4☆

This one starts at a breakneck pace with Samuel bombing a courthouse trying to make a statement about government oversteps (many are relevant to plot points so I will be vague), and now he is on the run.
His sister Jo is the primary point of view (Samuel, and Asa are there others). She is left behind trying to make sense of how her brother went down the dark road he is on. Asa is the third point of view, a pastor at a nearby church, and father of a young gi that was injured in the bombing. This book deals a lot with faith, retaliation, redemption, and trying to heal brokenness.
Overall this was probably between 3-4 but I rounded up. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley.

3.5 stars for me. The book’s premise is fascinating and nerve-wracking—Jo is attempting to craft an impossible farewell to her home and its combination of safety and past horrors while also trying to come to terms with the possibility that her brother, her longtime selfless protector, was responsible for a misguided act of violence and destruction.

I loved the many pushes and pulls in Hulse’s book—the explorations of faith and doubt, loyalty and disappointment, friendship and enmity, as well as whether artistic expression should represent the truth of the landscape or can helpfully serve as an idyllic fantasy.

Jo considers Samuel’s motivations and the events that likely shaped his actions and views, but her denial is generally strong here, and her unwillingness to examine upsetting parts of her life head-on seems to soften the impact of the very events that could have made this book more tense and fraught (and tougher to read). She only looks sideways at her pending eviction, the limitations of her physical condition, her lack of a significant support network, the tragedies of her past, her inevitable unemployment, as well as her brother and protector’s violent destruction—which leaves her alone to cope with all of the above.

A more minor note: I thought the practical aspects of Jo’s physical condition and their significant effects on her movements were somewhat glossed over, which I found simultaneously fascinating (it was wonderful that she wasn’t defined by this aspect of her life) and a little distracting. At times her situation was mentioned and addressed, but much of the time it was almost as though she were floating through the house, field, transition to rising Lockjaw, etc.

“Eden Mine” was an interesting and more internalized examination of rural disillusionment, familial bonds, and terrorism than I expected—Hulse allows for subtleties and gray areas where I didn’t anticipate finding them.

I was given an advance copy of this book by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A heartbreaking look at the ramifications of domestic terrorism - told from the points of view of the terrorist, his sister, and the father of one of the victims. Set in the small dying Montana town of Eden Mine, Jo Faber wakes to the news that her brother Samuel is wanted for bombing a local court house and must come to terms with the social, emotional, and political ramifications, all while dealing with the loss of her home and the distrust of her community. With vivid world building, timely social commentary, and sympathetic characters, Eden Mine is a haunting novel that will stick with the reader long after they've finished the novel!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.