Sue Miller's The ARSONIST is rubbish

Amer. novelist Sue Miller is a best selling author.  Her novel WHILE I WAS GONE was an Oprah Pick and two of her earliest novelist made into films.  I think that Miller's earlier works such as FAMILY PICTURES or THE WORLD BELOW were intelligent, beautifully written novels.  In other words, I feel her writing has gone downhill, way below the quality of her earlier novels.  THE SENATOR'S WIFE which came out in '08 was a disappointing, soap operish novel of infidelity within political circles which felt dated.  THE ARSONIST is a contemporary love story set in a small town between Bud and Frankie.  Frankie is the female protagonist. She has been an aid worker in worn torn countries in Africa and meets Bud on her return to her family home in a small New England Town.  Bud has taken over the local paper after leaving his political reporting job in D.C. to live a life in the bedrock of a small community.  Frankie has always wanted more than her provincial life and strains against the ties that bind.  The banal happenings in this quaint town take a combustible turn as an arsonist begins burning down local homes.  Miller touches lightly on several hot topics: world hunger, social divides, misognystic attitudes, and senility.  These all flammable topics that get mired in the unresolved mystery of the arsonist.  It also gets watered down by the silly dilemma of Frankie's torment:   "Even if she'd found a way to lead a life big enough for her here…she couldn't stay. She couldn't make Bud her life."  The ARSONIST didn't kindle any substantive interest.  Her promising earlier novels are worth your time but this latest work has burned bridges for the future.