Down River

Definitely wasn’t expecting this to end the way it did. This book kept me interested and I didn’t want to put it down

This is an exceptionally well written fast paced story that you will find impossible to put down. This mystery involves family secrets, murder and mayhem in a southern town. This was my first John Hart novel and won"t be my last.

...Mistakes usually leave that ripple, sometimes deep, sometime shallow, that flow outward in astonishing ways. If I could give this author 10 stars i would. His book is about a particular family, but I've been a member of a family with members that I saw in the pages of his book. Adam Chase leaves home under a cloud of suspicion, stays away five years and then comes back. People then begin to die, or are discovered to have died, people are hurt, memories that have been hidden rise to the surface and you, as as reader, keep turning the pages, faster and faster. The author writes with depth, with knowledge of how we hurt each other, and shows us tenderness, frustration and dispair. The book blurb says you will remember this story long after you've read the last lline, and that is a true statement. I couldn't recommend a book more. Good job, John Hart.

The words "Rowan County, North Carolina," evoke many memories for Danny Chase, the hero of John Hart's second literary thriller, Down River. Many of them are pleasant--for instance, the time he spent with childhood friend Danny Faith. But even the happy memories are colored by the events that drove him from Rowan five years before the events depicted in this novel, when he was almost convicted of a murder he didn't commit. Thus, his reluctance to return to his home town at the urgent behest of his friend Danny is understandable; but, his loyalty to his friend eventually outweighing his misgivings, he decides to honor his pal's request. His mere appearance in Rowan stirs up old emotions and grudges as he encounters allies and enemies from the past, and things get even more complicated when he discovers that Danny has mysteriously vanished. After a member of his own family is attacked, Danny becomes a person of interest in the investigation. When townspeople start dying all around him, he's forced to unravel an intricate web of secrets to clear his name. One of those rare writers who actually live up to the expectations created by the hyperbole of his jacket copy and publicity materials, Hart delivers a book that should satisfy thriller fans as well as those who appreciate a well written novel (not that the two are mutually exclusive, mind you). Through his carefully fashioned prose and sheer storytelling ability, Hart successfully updates the southern gothic, artfully trodding some of the same territory as notables such as Grisham, Berendt, and (dare I say?), Wolfe and Faulkner.

This is a "Prodigal Son" book, wherein the oldest son of a wealthy southern family returns home five years after he was accused (but acquitted) of murder. At first, the narrator of this excellent who-dunnit seems incredibly hard headed, self centered, and difficult to like. As the story unfolds, we find out why he is this way, and it lends credibility to his actions later in the book. Because he's been gone and out of touch for so long, Adam Chase now has to spend time finding out what's been happening with his family, with his ex-girlfriend, and with the small town that was his home. We get to discover these things along with him. When a series of assaults and other crimes happen right after his arrival, Adam becomes the immediate center of attention, and he has to work hard to prove his innocence. All while trying to win back his place in the family and with his old girlfriend. The plot moves along quickly and has plenty of surprises, but it was the many diverse characters in this novel that really made it entertaining. Plenty of suspects, a dysfunctional family, and the peculiarities of small town southern living make this mystery a good read.

I thought John Hart had a remarkable beginning with The King of Lies, a book which captured me and kept me glued to the page as it wove together a southern baroque small town family oriented sense of fantasy, reality, and mystery in a way that is totally believable. However, he may have surpassed himself in Down River, a novel which I found impossible to put down and which carried the sins of the past into the crimes of the present and the pain of the future with a human, personal touch that was endlessly gripping. I cannot recommend it too highly if you are interested in the human condition, the complexity of people, or the nature of southern gothic traditions. I believe that John Hart is going to become a writer that many readers look forward to every year for his latest volume. This certainly builds on King of Lies and continues his development as a major fiction writer.