Down River

Down River
by John Hart

Down River
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Book Summary Information

Author: John Hart
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-10-02
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur

Book Reviews of Down River

Book Review: A appealing book that takes place in my back yard
Summary: 4 Stars

I picked up "Down River" in my local bookstore's Regional section. Hart lives a few hours from my current home, and an hour or so from where I grew up on my father's farm, in North Carolina. Just about every murder I have ever attempted to solve has taken place in one of three locals: New York City, Los Angeles, or Miami. How refreshing, then, to read about Charlotte, NC as the "Big City", and most events taking place on a farm in a small town very much like the one I grew up in (and not so very far away).

"Down River" is Hart's second book, both taking place in Rowan County, NC. I haven't read the first, and it did not seem as if I needed to in order to fully enjoy this book. I appreciate it when serial authors allow you to read in any order from any book. My experience with this one will definitely have me reaching for his first novel, and keeping an eye out for future works.

It will be hard for me to keep the bias out of this review. "Down River" is a story of the prodigal son returning home to the farm where familial relationships are strained. An aging, ailing father, a brother who never left home, and a rebelious sister all play major roles. While reading this book, my father had a massive heart attack and I had to return home to the family farm to help care for him. My brother still lives a mile away, and my gregarious sister completed the circle. So much of this book reminded me of my childhood that my pleasure is probably somewhat derived from pure nostalgia.

There is more to love here than just my tickled loins, however. Hart excels at populating his work with dozens of suspects, all with ample motive and opportunity, without beating you over the head with what he is doing. The pace of the work is extremely swift, but your brain will tumble along after as you compile a line-up, each entrant guiltier than the last. Every five pages I KNEW who the killer was, and turned to my wife, who had just finished the book, looking for a glimmer in her eyes as I presented my latest theory.

Every single last one of them was wrong.

Another draw in "Down River" is the protagonist, a rough-and-tumble farm boy with big-city street smarts. Not too strapping, but never one to avoid a bit of fistacuffs, he reminds me of myself when I was trying to survive the rigors of living in a rural setting where being smarter than everyone else was a mixed blessing. Told from his perspective, Adam Chase is returning to a town where everyone thinks he got away with murder five years earlier. His father refuses to sell land to a prospective Nuclear power plant, costing investors dearly, and his boyhood friend has gone missing. There is danger at every turn, and Chase's situation keeps going from bad to worse as he attempts to solve murders faster than the body count can outpace him.

If you enjoy a rough murder mystery, give "Down River" a try. Everyone in the Carolinas will get a kick out of the local color, but there is obviously something here for all readers as "Down River" has been nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award for best mystery book.

Summary of Down River

2008 Edgar Winning Novel Down River.

Everything that shaped him happened near that river?.

Now its banks are filled with lies and greed, shame, and murder?.

John Hart?s debut, The King of Lies, was compelling and lyrical, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times declaring, ?There hasn?t been a thriller as showily literate since Scott Turow came along.?  Now, in Down River, Hart makes a scorching return to Rowan County, where he drives his characters to the edge, explores the dark side of human nature, and questions the fundamental power of forgiveness.

Adam hase has a violent streak, and not without reason. As a boy, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred thin. The trauma left him passionate and misunderstood---a fighter. After being narrowly acquitted of a murder charge, Adam is hounded out of the only home he?s ever known, exiled for a sin he did not commit. For five long years he disappears, fades into the faceless gray of New York City. Now he?s back and nobody knows why, not his family or the cops, not the enemies he left behind.

But Adam has his reasons.

Within hours of his return, he is beaten and accosted, confronted by his family and the women he still holds dear. No one knows what to make of Adam?s return, but when bodies start turning up, the small town rises against him and Adam again finds himself embroiled in the fight of his life, not just to prove his own innocence, but to reclaim the only life he?s ever wanted.

Bestselling author John Hart holds nothing back as he strips his characters bare.  Secrets explode, emotions tear, and more than one person crosses the brink into deadly behavior as he examines the lengths to which people will go for money, family, and revenge.

A powerful, heart-pounding thriller, Down River will haunt your thoughts long after the last page is turned.

Praise for John Hart and The King of Lies

?Treat yourself to something new and truly out of the ordinary.?

---Rocky Mountain News

?A top-notch debut. Hart?s prose is like Raymond Chandler?s, angular and hard.?

--Entertainment Weekly (grade A)

?A gripping performance.?

---People magazine

?A marriage of carefully crafted prose alongside have-to-keep-reading suspense.?

---The Denver Post

?A masterful piece of writing.?

---The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

?A gripping mystery/thriller and a fully fleshed, thoughtful work of literature.?

---Winston-Salem Journal

?The King of Lies moves and reads like a book on fire.?

---Pat Conroy

?John Hart?s debut . . .  is that most engrossing of rarities, a well-plotted mystery novel that is written in a beautifully poetic style.?

---Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama

?Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding.?

---The New York Times

 

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