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Summary
Summary
Down River is the winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
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, nothis 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
Author Notes
John Hart was born in Durham, North Carolina, in 1965. He graduated from Davidson College with a degree in French Literature. He later earned graduate degrees in accounting and law. He has written several books including The King of Lies, Down River, The Last Child, and Iron House. He has received several awards including the best novel Edgar Award for consecutive novels, the Barry Award, and England's Steel Dagger Award for best thriller of the year.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hart surpasses his bestselling debut, The King of Lies (2006), with his richly atmospheric second novel, which offers a tighter plot, more adroit pacing and less angst. Five years earlier, Adam Chase was arrested for murder, largely on the basis of his stepmother's sworn testimony against him. He was acquitted, but nearly everyone, including his father, still thinks he did it, and Adam's deep bitterness has kept him away from home ever since. Now, at the request of a childhood friend, he's back in Salisbury, N.C., where all the old demons still reside and new troubles await. The almost Shakespearean snarl of family ties is complicated by a very modern struggle between economic progress and love for the land, between haves and have-nots. Throughout, Hart expertly weaves his main theme: that by their freedom of choice, humans are capable of betrayal but also of forgiveness and redemption. This book should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature. 150,000 first printing; 15-city author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A black sheep's homecoming triggers violence, murder and much sensual heat. Adam Chase returns to his North Carolina home, prompted by a cryptic phone call from old friend Danny Faith, after five years of self-imposed exile in New York. Adam stood trial back then for the murder of local football hero Gray Wilson and, though he was acquitted, his beautiful stepmother Janice testified against him, and much of the town thought he was guilty. Adam thinks often about reconciling with his father Jacob, a hardworking farmer nearing retirement. Danny's out of town, but his father Zebulon shows his ill will toward Adam by helping beat him up. Adam's old girlfriend, Robin, now a cop and nursing a grudge about his abrupt departure, takes him in temporarily. More trouble follows. Grace Shepherd, the teenage daughter of Adam's oldest friend Dolf, is attacked near the river shortly after Adam (on whom she had a childhood crush) talks to her. Adam's half-brother Jamie has a gambling addiction and an alcohol problem, and his half-sister Miriam suffers from suicidal depression. Things hit rock bottom when Adam discovers Danny's partially decomposed body, and Dolf is arrested for his murder. Adam decides he has to solve the crime. A sizable supporting cast of offbeat characters thicken the atmosphere and mystery. Steamy Southern Gothic has much in common with Hart's successful debut (The King of Lies, 2006), but its juicy melodrama often slides into pretentiousness. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
"*Starred Review* King of Lies (2006), Hart's debut, was gripping and stylishly written, but it pales in comparison to this complex, emotionally charged novel. Adam Chase returns home to small-town North Carolina after five years living in New York City. He left his hometown or, in fact, was run out of town after he was acquitted of murder. He has returned home because his family is there and because everyone he has ever loved is there. But when his oldest friend goes missing, and Adam is beaten to a pulp by his friend's father's stooges, he begins to regret his decision. As he tries to reconnect with family and friends, Adam learns that some people he's known all his life are hiding dark secrets and that the truth surrounding the murder he was accused of five years ago is more frightening and closer to home than he could have imagined. Down River is a beautifully constructed story of personal redemption, family secrets, and murder a small-town epic, if there is such a thing. Hart dexterously juggles a large cast of characters and several intricate plotlines, and when he starts to tie together the threads of the various stories well, that's when the real magic begins. A truly splendid novel with a deep emotional core."--"Pitt, David" Copyright 2007 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Because of his violent past, Adam Harston becomes the prime suspect when people start turning up dead in his small North Carolina hometown. Hart (The King of Lies) lives in North Carolina. National tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.