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Brindle 24
24-hour environmental apocalypse in New York
An environmental thriller set in Upstate New York, Brindle 24 tells the raw story of a family who lived in intimate harmony with the land until the day everything changed. In this close community, outsiders are not trusted.
A scientist intrudes, to investigate the family cat's sudden death, suspecting chemical contaminants in the ground water. Follow the haunting fates of a teenager, her pregnant mother, war veteran father and their neighbors. This ecology-themed story is based on extensive research, scientific and medical reports about very real effects of fracking (hydraulic fracturing to extract underground natural gas) on nature.
An environmental thriller set in Upstate New York, Brindle 24 tells the raw story of a family who lived in intimate harmony with the land until the day everything changed. In this close community, outsiders are not trusted.
A scientist intrudes, to investigate the family cat's sudden death, suspecting chemical contaminants in the ground water. Follow the haunting fates of a teenager, her pregnant mother, war veteran father and their neighbors. This ecology-themed story is based on extensive research, scientific and medical reports about very real effects of fracking (hydraulic fracturing to extract underground natural gas) on nature.
- GenresFiction
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2012
169 people want to read
About the author
J.J. Brown
15 books260 followersJennifer J. Brown is an independent author, scientist and publisher with a passion for nature and family. Publications include science communications, health news, narrative nonfiction, and fiction including novels, short stories and poems as J.J.Brown. Genres include memoir, literary and contemporary noir fiction and suspense. When the Baby Is Not OK: Hopes & Genes, is her newest book publishing in February, 2025.
An incorrigible storyteller originally from the Catskill Mountain region of New York, Brown continued creative writing during a career as a molecular biologist, science writer and director, editor and public health advocate in Philadelphia, Miami and NYC.
Brown completed a PhD in Genetics from her research with Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and her genetics, medical education, and public health studies are published in leading scientific journals.
When not writing, Brown enjoys time with her daughters and her companion house rabbits, Belinda and Maxi in New York City.
Discover inspirations behind Brown's work at her blog https://jjbrownauthor.com/ and author page.
An incorrigible storyteller originally from the Catskill Mountain region of New York, Brown continued creative writing during a career as a molecular biologist, science writer and director, editor and public health advocate in Philadelphia, Miami and NYC.
Brown completed a PhD in Genetics from her research with Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and her genetics, medical education, and public health studies are published in leading scientific journals.
When not writing, Brown enjoys time with her daughters and her companion house rabbits, Belinda and Maxi in New York City.
Discover inspirations behind Brown's work at her blog https://jjbrownauthor.com/ and author page.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 8, 2013
The author sent me this book recently and it sounded really interesting (and, admittedly, the odd fish on the cover caught my attention). I won't rehash the plot for you, but it's basically covering 24 hours in a small town that is home to a fracking gas type-company.
I had heard of fracking in passing, but I really didn't know what it was. I kept waiting on the author to give us more information about the mechanics of it. What it means, how it's done, etc. We are told about it in bits and pieces, but I never felt we were really told more than surface information about it. Perhaps the author assumed everyone knows about it, but I really didn't.
It starts off really strong with an awesomely written first chapter or two... but then it kind of loses steam as the author's obvious poetry background starts to come into play. A few too many flowery words and a perhaps just a touch of too much environmental preachiness. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty green, but if you aren't expecting the airy writing, it can be a little overwhelming. I felt that I missed several pieces of information because it was overwritten in places.
BUT... here's the thing. It's a good story - a REALLY good story. It's a topic that I'd like to read more about - especially in a fictional setting such as this. I really felt my heart leaping for these folks and wanting to know more about the subject and the people in the story. It just ended up falling a little flat for me. It needed a little more "oomph", a little more action and a little less poetic license, perhaps.
Recommended for those who like environmental books. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I know others would enjoy it!
I had heard of fracking in passing, but I really didn't know what it was. I kept waiting on the author to give us more information about the mechanics of it. What it means, how it's done, etc. We are told about it in bits and pieces, but I never felt we were really told more than surface information about it. Perhaps the author assumed everyone knows about it, but I really didn't.
It starts off really strong with an awesomely written first chapter or two... but then it kind of loses steam as the author's obvious poetry background starts to come into play. A few too many flowery words and a perhaps just a touch of too much environmental preachiness. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty green, but if you aren't expecting the airy writing, it can be a little overwhelming. I felt that I missed several pieces of information because it was overwritten in places.
BUT... here's the thing. It's a good story - a REALLY good story. It's a topic that I'd like to read more about - especially in a fictional setting such as this. I really felt my heart leaping for these folks and wanting to know more about the subject and the people in the story. It just ended up falling a little flat for me. It needed a little more "oomph", a little more action and a little less poetic license, perhaps.
Recommended for those who like environmental books. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I know others would enjoy it!
June 16, 2015
Brindle 24 was so compelling, riveting, and realistic, I had to check to make sure I had downloaded a fiction book instead of nonfiction. In an hour-by-hour framework, the author tells the story of the last day in the life of a town poisoned and polluted fracking to extract natural gas from deep beneath the town. The plot is masterfully crafted by this veteran story-teller, and all the elements of a thriller are here: love, lust, greed, drama, and the uncomfortable knowledge that the terrifying impact of fracking is all too real. This may be fiction, but it's so well-researched by the author, herself a scientist, that it conveys the punch and authority of a scientific treatise, yet the story races along, making it difficult to put the book down.
I've had the pleasure of meeting the book's author, J. J. Brown, recently, and she speaks in with quiet intensity about wanting her writing to create good in the world. In this case, she has skillfully raised awareness about the destructiveness of fracking by illuminating not only the environmental issues, but also the personal, economic, and medical issues at stake. It's the story and the characters, however, that you'll remember long after you finish reading.
I've had the pleasure of meeting the book's author, J. J. Brown, recently, and she speaks in with quiet intensity about wanting her writing to create good in the world. In this case, she has skillfully raised awareness about the destructiveness of fracking by illuminating not only the environmental issues, but also the personal, economic, and medical issues at stake. It's the story and the characters, however, that you'll remember long after you finish reading.
January 16, 2013
I have been a fan of J.J. Brown’s work for some time now. She and I both come from the world of science and medicine and we both weave material from that world into our fictional tales. Brindle 24 is the story of 24 hours in a little town in rural New York that has become a fracking center. What is fracking? According to one website, “Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside.”
The various impacts of fracking on the environment, animals, and humans are described through multiple points of view: the scientist who works for the gas company, Henry Berger, the scientist’s son, Adrian, Elizabeth Smith and her parents, the orphaned twins of a military mother, Mark and Matt, and Officer Joe. We begin the day with Henry and his son, Adrian, waiting to cross a highway clogged with water tankers heading to the fracking site. A school bus driver errs and a terrible crash ensues between a water tanker and the school bus. Officer Joe arrives on the scene and finds Mark and Matt beating on the truck driver. The cop sends the boys off to school and deals with the mess as best he can. His day does not get better.
Over the course of the story, we discover the once pristine local water is not potable; clean water must be brought in by jugs. The soil is toxic, so the plants, if they live, are inedible. The air is a mixture of methane, toluene, benzene, uranium, and other carcinogens used to fracture the shale and extract so called “clean natural gas.” Pets are dying, people have leukemia, women have miscarriages, and in the end, the only sane response to the insanity is dealt by a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
From the inciting incident to the explosive ending, this cautionary tale is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who believe that if we just close our eyes to the massive destruction of the fracking process that it doesn’t exist. Once you read this book, you will come to see what fracking really is: an unnecessary evil. Brava to J.J. Brown for bringing this matter to a larger audience and hopefully to one that will take action.
The various impacts of fracking on the environment, animals, and humans are described through multiple points of view: the scientist who works for the gas company, Henry Berger, the scientist’s son, Adrian, Elizabeth Smith and her parents, the orphaned twins of a military mother, Mark and Matt, and Officer Joe. We begin the day with Henry and his son, Adrian, waiting to cross a highway clogged with water tankers heading to the fracking site. A school bus driver errs and a terrible crash ensues between a water tanker and the school bus. Officer Joe arrives on the scene and finds Mark and Matt beating on the truck driver. The cop sends the boys off to school and deals with the mess as best he can. His day does not get better.
Over the course of the story, we discover the once pristine local water is not potable; clean water must be brought in by jugs. The soil is toxic, so the plants, if they live, are inedible. The air is a mixture of methane, toluene, benzene, uranium, and other carcinogens used to fracture the shale and extract so called “clean natural gas.” Pets are dying, people have leukemia, women have miscarriages, and in the end, the only sane response to the insanity is dealt by a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
From the inciting incident to the explosive ending, this cautionary tale is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who believe that if we just close our eyes to the massive destruction of the fracking process that it doesn’t exist. Once you read this book, you will come to see what fracking really is: an unnecessary evil. Brava to J.J. Brown for bringing this matter to a larger audience and hopefully to one that will take action.
September 2, 2016
I have a short list of “must-haves” in a story. One, I’m a sucker for a great opening. Two, it needs to have interesting and diverse characters. Third, and probably most important to me, it needs to have the ability to make me care about the character, positively or negatively, to keep me invested in the story. There is nothing I hate more when I’m reading than to find out that I don’t really care what happens to the people who populate the story. I’m happy to say that Brindle 24 meet all of my stringent criteria. In fact, I read half the book before I could force myself to put it down. This is one of those books that while reading I caution myself to slow down so I don’t finish it too quickly and then be sad that it’s over.
Brindle is a small town in New York State and author, J. J. Brown, populates it with quirky and interesting characters that I liked almost instantly. Ms. Brown simultaneously paints her characters with broad strokes and with delicate, precise details. Nuances that really bring them to life – a turn of the head, the lilt of a voice, the scent of the town – but trusts her readers enough to let them fill in some of the blanks.
The story itself takes place within a 24 hour span, the last day in the life of a town, as she teases on the book’s cover. During that day we learn that Brindle and its residents are being overwhelmed by the collateral damage of hydraulic fracking. This story could easily veer into a preachy, screechy mess but it’s a testament to her talent that Ms. Brown manages to present the science in a way that doesn’t seem forced or over-bearing and at the end, I was surprised to discover that I actually understood the process of fracking as well as the real cost to a community and its inhabitants.
At its core, Brindle 24 is a cautionary tale and it is told like one. The cadence of the story builds and culminates quickly. That really is my biggest complaint, that the story wasn’t longer.
Brindle is a small town in New York State and author, J. J. Brown, populates it with quirky and interesting characters that I liked almost instantly. Ms. Brown simultaneously paints her characters with broad strokes and with delicate, precise details. Nuances that really bring them to life – a turn of the head, the lilt of a voice, the scent of the town – but trusts her readers enough to let them fill in some of the blanks.
The story itself takes place within a 24 hour span, the last day in the life of a town, as she teases on the book’s cover. During that day we learn that Brindle and its residents are being overwhelmed by the collateral damage of hydraulic fracking. This story could easily veer into a preachy, screechy mess but it’s a testament to her talent that Ms. Brown manages to present the science in a way that doesn’t seem forced or over-bearing and at the end, I was surprised to discover that I actually understood the process of fracking as well as the real cost to a community and its inhabitants.
At its core, Brindle 24 is a cautionary tale and it is told like one. The cadence of the story builds and culminates quickly. That really is my biggest complaint, that the story wasn’t longer.
January 14, 2013
Brindle 24 is a very well written book telling a story of a town in the heartland, that place that defines a people - like the steppe stretching across Russia, the Scottish highlands, the hot sands of Arabia. They are the foundation places kept in the attic of civilization. Humans are more creatures of those lands than we care to admit.
The story of Brindle is a cautionary one, a bit like Vonnegut's Mother Night, a bit of Mary Shelley. Dr. Frankenstein did not set out to create an evil monster after all. The monster that escaped into the Heartland of 18th century Europe, wandering from Switzerland to Scotland before going to a frozen place without humans in it, was not really a monster. Technology is not either.
Brindle 24 tells the story from the side of biology, not economics, industry, or even politics. The people and the lives in the book are mundane and average. But average lives can change in an instant is the tale told. The modern world comes to the heartland of Brindle over the course of one day, a world that the people there are not ready for and thought that their insular small town, where all visitors are inspected at the border, would guard them from. A monster was there all along, and they did not know it.
The monster in Brindle is exaggerated one-dimensional evil, as monsters tend to be, but the reality of the characters and the telling of their lives rings true. Brindle 24 is a book to make you think about things, even monsters.
The story of Brindle is a cautionary one, a bit like Vonnegut's Mother Night, a bit of Mary Shelley. Dr. Frankenstein did not set out to create an evil monster after all. The monster that escaped into the Heartland of 18th century Europe, wandering from Switzerland to Scotland before going to a frozen place without humans in it, was not really a monster. Technology is not either.
Brindle 24 tells the story from the side of biology, not economics, industry, or even politics. The people and the lives in the book are mundane and average. But average lives can change in an instant is the tale told. The modern world comes to the heartland of Brindle over the course of one day, a world that the people there are not ready for and thought that their insular small town, where all visitors are inspected at the border, would guard them from. A monster was there all along, and they did not know it.
The monster in Brindle is exaggerated one-dimensional evil, as monsters tend to be, but the reality of the characters and the telling of their lives rings true. Brindle 24 is a book to make you think about things, even monsters.
January 10, 2013
"Brindle 24 is a captivating story! 24 hours of events shaped by the consequences of fracking, changing forever, the lives and destiny of families in a small town.
Jennifer Brown wonderfully writes this story, extracting from her scientific researches, the basic elements of a great fiction book, where proposed realities meet environmental-technological facts.
High peeks of emotional distress and fast running events, involve the reader and truly plant the roots for a personal journey through the discovery of the real meaning of hydraulic fracturing and its price: numerous health and safety hazards, possible sensory, respiratory, and neurological damages.
Throughout the book, the author is able to make the reader see, live, feel and experience the contaminated atmosphere in each character's life, carefully mixing science, fiction and poetic references. Each character in the story, is deeply affected by the consequences of fracturing fluids and harmful chemical substances, in a great metaphor of parallel effects contaminating air, water and nature. A great "must read", informative, thought-provoking and useful at the same time".
Jennifer Brown wonderfully writes this story, extracting from her scientific researches, the basic elements of a great fiction book, where proposed realities meet environmental-technological facts.
High peeks of emotional distress and fast running events, involve the reader and truly plant the roots for a personal journey through the discovery of the real meaning of hydraulic fracturing and its price: numerous health and safety hazards, possible sensory, respiratory, and neurological damages.
Throughout the book, the author is able to make the reader see, live, feel and experience the contaminated atmosphere in each character's life, carefully mixing science, fiction and poetic references. Each character in the story, is deeply affected by the consequences of fracturing fluids and harmful chemical substances, in a great metaphor of parallel effects contaminating air, water and nature. A great "must read", informative, thought-provoking and useful at the same time".
March 14, 2013
Brindle 24 is an ode to a world that continuously puts finance above health, and asks the question what if love comes first? J.J.Brown loves each of her characters, none of them are 'bad' except for the pernicious and often invisible enemy of fracking waste. Brindle 24 follows a day in the life of the town Brindle, where the harmful effects of fracking on the individual body and surrounding environment are explored in a painful and poetic novel. If you are unfamiliar with the process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking you may very well want to delve in and research what that actually means and if it's going on near your drinking water supply after reading this book.
February 8, 2013
We hear about so much about fracking in the news so it's great that JJ Brown has decided to educate the masses through literature.
Brindle 24 tells the story about a town that has been devastated by hydraulic fracturing. They're devastated by the polluted water, the growing unlivable conditions, and the shameless greed of the benefactors.
There's so much to still learn about fracking and Brindle 24 does a great job of being very informative without beating the reader over the head with raw facts. Another thing to mention is how naturally the characters of the book give off a very relatable everyday vibe.
JJ Brown has offered a fine example of edutainment.
Brindle 24 tells the story about a town that has been devastated by hydraulic fracturing. They're devastated by the polluted water, the growing unlivable conditions, and the shameless greed of the benefactors.
There's so much to still learn about fracking and Brindle 24 does a great job of being very informative without beating the reader over the head with raw facts. Another thing to mention is how naturally the characters of the book give off a very relatable everyday vibe.
JJ Brown has offered a fine example of edutainment.
April 24, 2013
There seemed to be considerable research into the scientific components of this story, but the writing style is very choppy. It's a short book that I would normally get through in a few hours, but I only read a few pages at at time because I'd get bored.
The idea for the storyline is a good one, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the overall result.
The idea for the storyline is a good one, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the overall result.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews