{"id":6101,"date":"2019-01-18T10:33:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T14:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=6101"},"modified":"2019-01-18T10:33:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T14:33:57","slug":"book-review-river-bodies-by-karen-katchur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-river-bodies-by-karen-katchur\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: River Bodies by Karen Katchur"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

River Bodies <\/em>by Karen Katchur<\/p>\n

Thomas and Mercer, 2019<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-5039-0239-8<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

River Bodies <\/em>is being billed as a thriller, and\u2026 it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 Calling it a thriller is pigeonholing a book that has a lot more to offer. It\u2019s not “blow you away” exciting, and it doesn\u2019t have simple characters, like most thrillers.\u00a0 This book is a good deal more.\u00a0 With its beautifully drawn characters, interactions between them, and outstanding writing, you have a story that is a bit of everything: excitement, intrigue, romance, and characters learning what\u2019s really important to them.\u00a0 If anything, it’s a study of three very different people who grew up around the same time, in the same place, but wound up walking very different paths.<\/p>\n

Becca is a 30 year old veterinarian in New Jersey.\u00a0 Her life is going fine, minus her struggles with her boyfriend\u2019s infidelity.\u00a0 She learns that her father, who she despises, is on the last legs of his battle with cancer, so she crosses the river to her childhood home in Pennsylvania to see him.\u00a0\u00a0 Unbeknownst to her, the morning she crosses, she sees John Jackson, who she grew up with, at the scene of a murder he just committed (telling you that Jackson is the killer does not give anything away: the author reveals that Jackson is the guilty party in the second chapter).\u00a0 On Becca’s return home, she runs into Parker, her childhood flame, now the chief of police in her hometown, and in charge of the murder investigation.<\/p>\n

The story builds through the perspective of all three characters, as they find themselves drawn back into each other\u2019s lives, through a complex web of events, circumstances, and relationships.\u00a0 The backstory of the characters is also prominent, as it turns out that a similar murder happened years ago.\u00a0 Becca\u2019s dad was chief of police at the time, and he may have hidden information that could have brought the murderer to justice.<\/p>\n

As noted before, this isn\u2019t a roller coaster ride with desperate chases, wild shootouts or breakneck car chases, like most thriller novels: there really isn\u2019t that much action at all.\u00a0 What carries the story is the author\u2019s excellent writing, especially as shown in the character development.\u00a0 All three of the leads are extremely well done, with a lot of emotional depth.\u00a0 The best, and the most intriguing, is John Jackson, the killer, who is an enforcer for a local motorcycle gang.\u00a0 As one would expect, he isn\u2019t a good person, living the standard biker life of drinking, skirt-chasing, and terrorizing other people.\u00a0 But he does have his good qualities, ones that become important later in the book.\u00a0 Flashbacks provide understanding of how the characters developed: they are handled smoothly, and written well enough that you don\u2019t get confused with the back and forth between the two time periods.\u00a0 There are a few implausible moments in the book where you will have to suspend disbelief, but they are easily overlooked and don\u2019t detract from the story.<\/p>\n

Overall, it\u2019s a well written story that should appeal to a wide audience, and at only 290 pages, one that is easily digestible and doesn\u2019t require a substantial investment of time.\u00a0 Recommended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: mild violence<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

River Bodies by Karen Katchur Thomas and Mercer, 2019 ISBN: 978-1-5039-0239-8 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook   River Bodies is being billed as a thriller, and\u2026 it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 Calling it a thriller is pigeonholing a book that has a lot more to offer. It\u2019s not “blow you away” exciting, and it doesn\u2019t have<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[450,1390,3616,2325,3615,3502],"class_list":["post-6101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crime-fiction","tag-gothic-fiction","tag-karen-katchur","tag-mystery-fiction","tag-river-bodies","tag-thriller-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6101"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6148,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101\/revisions\/6148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}