Meredith Griffin travels to Stonington, Kansas (from Oregon) to look for her brother (Kevin), who is supposed to be living at a compound (the Temple of the Enlightenment). Meredith finds the town and the people strange. She eventually meets handsome Mark Brasfield who says he can accompany her to the Temple. Meredith is very suspicious when she arrives at the Temple and doesn’t really trust the people there. She also finds that she is falling for Mark. Will she ever see her brother again?

This was a very enjoyable and unusual storyline. Sometimes I wanted to get past the romance and get to the action at the Temple and find out what was happening with Kevin. Meredith was a very headstrong and feisty heroine. (No shrinking violet here.) Mark was a decent hero.

A fun old read from 1985. ( )

From the time Meredith Griffin arrives in the small town that is the home of the Temple of Enlightenment, everyone seems strange. The Temple is the cult from which her brother, Kevin, has ceased all communication with his family. When Meredith meets the urbane Mark Brasfield, he seems a godsend. Someone sophisticated and citified who dresses sharply in a sea of simple garments and temple robes and carries a flask hidden in his pocket in the dry town. He seems to be somewhat familiar with the Temple, given that it has become the town’s main industry, so to speak, and while he doesn’t join her in condemning the cult, he seems willing enough to help her get an audience with her brother.

But what’s a guy like that doing in a place like this anyway? Unfortunately for her, Meredith is about to find out.

It’s a simple, but decent plot. At times Mark comes off as a bit of a Rico Suave, but it’s interesting to wonder who he really is and what his real connection to the cult really is. He doesn’t seem to be a typical hero, and the conclusion is interesting. ( )