“I was a tornado myself in my twenties, but at forty, that’s over. Now I’m just a decaying thunderstorm, expending its remaining energy in a dreary collapse.”

But some thunderstorms re-intensify.

In this Southern political-ecological romp by the author of The Inheritors: A Climate Fable, several years after becoming locally famous for covering a tornado outbreak, former television meteorologist Alicia Norris is stuck in a boring, dead-end job: doing useless research at a small college on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Then artificial intelligence takes that away too.

Alicia is ready to give up on her passion when news about a beachfront condo developer who’s destroying oak trees inspires her again. It also puts her in the path of Cynthia Wyman, a local cannabis farmer and eco-vandal who’s tried to thwart the developer for years to no avail. He’s very politically connected, but his most powerful protégé, a retired football coach famous for his eleven state titles—and for forming a school chapter of QAnon—is up for reelection this year. Alicia has never run for office, but people still remember her from her TV days, so she might have a chance. But she’ll be up against not just the coach and his wealthy benefactor, but also a gelled, steroid-injecting, raw-meat-eating podcaster who’s trying to become the next big thing in the “manosphere” by any means necessary.

As the campaign and Mississippi summer heat up, Alicia and Cynthia realize that something worse than tree destruction is afoot. A critically endangered sea turtle is trying to nest at the construction site, but they cannot get hard proof of it. The campaign turns vicious and investigating the site turns risky. Alicia and Cynthia will have to decide if they want to pin all their hopes on the election or take extreme measures….