SERENA by Ron Rash, 2008.

This novel sucked me in completely from the very first page, and I found it very difficult put it down or stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it.
   Set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, the story opens in 1929 with the return of George Pemberton from Boston to Waynesville, North Carolina, bringing with him his bride, Serena. Driven by greed, ambition, and power, and ideally suited, the couple is ready to lead a spectacular and thrilling life. They want to turn the area into a vast timber empire, harvesting the trees and despoiling the valleys and ridges until there's nothing left, and then move on. However, nothing in life is ever so simple, and they find themselves distracted by several issues: the Federal government's desire to create a national forest; the existence of Pemberton's illegitimate infant son; the numerous deaths of workers; the continuous hunt for new investors in their projects; an interfering local sheriff named McDowell, and Serena's tragic pregnancy. The Pembertons use every method available to vanquish all those who stand in their way--bribery, violence, and murder. And when Serena discovers she can never give Pemberton a child of her own, she ruthlessly sets out to murder both his young son and the boy's mother.
   Rash is a wonderful storyteller and brilliant in his writing--his descriptions of the western Carolina mountains are beautiful, the period details of the Great Depression in Appalachia are well integrated, his narrative flows smoothly, the story moves at a good pace. He provides details about timber harvesting, the logging industry, the whole concept of creating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and how it was done, of the Appalachian people and their terrible poverty. His characters are larger than life: Pemberton, the handsome and powerful lumberman who realizes his fatal flaw much too late; Rachel, the young girl who gives birth to Pemberton's only child and then struggles to protect them both; McDowell, the honest sheriff who can't be bought and wants to stop the Pembertons; Galloway, the one-handed flunky of Serena's who protects her and carries out her bidding; old Adeline Jenkins, who takes care of Rachel's baby and pays dearly for it, and many others, some real--like Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil of Biltmore--all brought to life by Rash's pen. But it is the character of Serena that is his most stunning creation--Rash's portrayal is amazing--she is brilliantly intelligent, practical, utterly ruthless, manipulative, and cruel, and at the same time able to show her care for Pemberton, her Arabian horse, her pet eagle, and, occasionally some concern for Galloway and other workers. I found this novel hugely entertaining, compelling, well plotted, with fine suspense and plenty of intrigue, violence, betrayal, lust, bribes, fraud; in short, an absorbing story of two intense and passionate people with a complete willingness to destroy a natural area for personal gain and to crush those who dared go against them. Hard to put down, totally recommend it.