The Divide is a 2005 thriller and family Drama with faint New Old West elements and is written by Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer. The frozen body of Eco-Terrorist Abbie Cooper is found in a Wyoming river. As her divorced parents and brother mourn her death, flashbacks build up to the events that brought her to that grim end.
Tropes:
- Accident, Not Murder:
- Abbie's death isn't murder or suicide. Her horse slipped on some ice and threw her into the river while she was trying to escape from Rolf.
- Rolf is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice on a broken fencepost while fighting Josh and Ty when they knock him back in self-defense after he pulls a gun. They weren't trying to kill him, and unsuccessfully try to stop him from bleeding to death.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: Ty is accused of being Abbie's accomplice, spends several weeks in jail, and has reporters imply he was an accomplice even after his innocence is proven.
- Eco-Terrorist: The prologue reveals that Abbie is branded as an environmental terrorist, although the truth is more complicated. She starts out as an environmental activist sticking to pickets until she meets Rolf, a mysterious European who convinces her to help him commit several acts of arson. They go on to burn down the cabin of a mining magnate who destroyed her ex-boyfriend Ty's family ranch, killing the businessman's son in the process. The head of Abbie's former protest group speculates that Rolf was previously involved with sending letter bombs to government employees to protest logging.
- How We Got Here: The first several chapters show the discovery of Abbie Cooper's body and her family reacting to the news. Those chapters also establish that Abbie was pregnant when she died and that she's spent the last few years as a wanted Eco-terrorist and murderer. It also is made clear that her parents are divorced due to her father's adultery. The story then skips back several years to show everything leading up to those events in rich detail.
- Let Off by the Detective: Sheriff Riggs discovers that Josh and Ty killed Rolf but chooses not to arrest them for it, feeling it was self-defense but that they'd be Convicted by Public Opinion and have already suffered enough. The fact that he's in love with Josh's mother helps.
- The Place: The book is named after a ranch where the Coopers visit on vacations, and where their troubles eventually begin.
