Mary Jane Beaufrand

Escaping city life and stress Veronica's family moves to rural Oregon to run a bed and breakfast. While they escaped the treadmill existence of the rat race city life, Ronnie's family learns that rural America is rife with danger.

When 13 year old Ronnie finds the body of her eight year old friend, face down in the swift current of the Santian river, her life is forever changed.

Starting with action, the book winds down to boring middle, then, like the uncertain river and the evil crime perpetrated there, it rapidly swirls, twists and turns.

Guardedly recommended… (meer)

Despite The River starting off with a dramatic entry of a sudden death the storyline began to settle down and I had to crawl through the rest. From that point on it was a jumbled mess of a regular teen life with an abnormal connection to the river spirit. (Something that the author never fully explained on. Did Veronica have a sixth sense or was this all a delusion?) I had gone in expecting a mournful, heartbreaking, book of a death but instead gotten something…not that. Then we reached midway and came across Gretchen, another plot. I could not imagine the ties these two situations had, a river death and an illegal drug use? I was a bit peeved some might say—the author was clearly biting off more than she can chew.

Some chapters after that scene, Beaufrand did something I could only smile about, she connected these scenarios together. She then carried the reader through a monsoon of actions and emotions. A high stakes game of resolution, revenge, and a runway that lead almost to another death. I had devoured the last several chapters of the book in the time it took me to say “no way”. In spite of this I still did like not some elements of The River.

I had already mentioned the slow crawl of the book and the randomness which is where Tomas’s relationship with Veronica stands. While I accepted Beaufrand’s attempt to humor the story, it did little for the actual plot. I did, however, find it amusing and gave a chuckle here and there but ultimately felt that it distracted the reader from the essence of the book. I found Tomas’s relationship with Veronica cute and endearing but had a weak foundation. The author barely cemented their affection to the reader before thrusting them to a love cocoon. Although it ties in with Karen and some of the background information of the characters it stole some of the spotlight of the heaviness of the topic.

Overall: The River will surprise will the reader for sure. Expect a tale that is similar to that of Stephanie Kuehnert—raw and emotional at times… (meer)