Books Down River
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - A Beautiful Mystery!
Down River by John Hart is a mystery story that is packed with much more than its intended. As I breezed through this carefully woven tale, I found myself falling in love with the characters of the tale. Hart has not only crafted an intelligent, simple, mystery but has also crafted some finely drawn characters that really add real literary substance to the pages. When reading the book I felt a combination of Larry McMurtry and James Patterson only better.

Adam Chase is a main character brimming with light even though he has nothing but sorrow and hatred for the people he left behind. Declared not guilty for a crime he was framed for, Adam decides he's had it with the town. His own father took his step wife's word over his, causing Adam to not only leave the people he now despises, but the people who still believe in him and love him.

Five years pass and Adam is called back by his good friend Danny Faith while living in New York City, telling him to come home to set things right. Adam reluctantly comes home to Rowan County only to be face with more bloodshed than when he left, causing those around him to stare in his direction. He ends up gaining assistance from Detective Robin Alexander, his longtime girlfriend he left behind. One of the victims ends up being his friend Grace who still holds a grudge against him for leaving her. Grace ends up being knocked out by an unknown assailant, but lives causing Adam to investigate what's happening. One thing leads to another when Grace's father, Dolf Shepard and him end up finding his friend Danny dead in a hole raising even more shouts. He realizes there is more going on in his rich family and county than he's ever suspected, bringing about old and new blood with his father and step siblings all while trying to redeem the past he has dreaded for five years of being alone.

I loved all the themes Hart threw into the story. Adam's rekindled romance with Robin, how far friendships can last for years, the idea of love for one's family in any time of need, and also the purpose of making choices in life and how they affect our future. John Hart shows with his book that he knows how to combine a simple, intelligent, mystery story with simple loving yet complex characters. Down River is a mystery tale unlike any other that immediately grabs onto your heart and never let's go, even after you've turned that last page. It also has some truly affecting twists that you'll never see coming. Just go buy it! Now! You won't regret this Beautiful mystery.

It is also a worthy winner of the Edgar Award for best novel.

---

Rating: - The new John Grisham?
I ordered this book because I expected to read a great page turner with a likeable, multi-faceted main character in the genre of Grisham. I know I am in the minority, but Adam Chase, the wrongly accused son, was missing something. I could not get into his feelings or justify his actions.
He is accused but acquitted of killing a peer five years prior to the opening of the novel. His stepmother, Janice, accused him of the murder stating that she saw him covered with blood, which was the same as the victim's. The police, for some unknown reason, do not search their home where lives his step sister and step brother, natural father and Janice. After he is acquitted, Adam leaves his home and goes to New York where no one really hears from him until he comes back at the request of his old friend Danny Faith.
Adam is shunned in his town but acts civil to his brother, sister and even his step mother. I didn't understand how he could have been gracious to this woman who could have had him sentenced to death.
There are other characters: Grace, Robin, Zebulon and Dolf, the latter being the most realistic.
Another murder occurs and Hart tries to weaves the lives together using a phony murder confession, real estate greed, self-inflicting cutting, drinking, gambling, adultery, suicide, assault, you name it. I did figure out the ending because there were so many clues popping out to the reader.
I also thought it was almost humorous when Robin (Adam's ex girlfriend and now a cop) would ask or tell Adam that she must talk to him about something - it seemed like she had to convey or ask some important information every day. Robin was on the case, off the case but still active in the case, whatever. She was loyal to Adam who never contacted her in five years but when he returns she is willing to make a new commitment to him. There were so many gimmicks in the story, I would have gladly read the worst of Grisham any day.

---

Rating: - An explosive mystery
I read it in a day; simply because I couldn't put it down. John Hart creates characters that we know, family secrets that will leave you shocked, and settings that will make you feel the heat. Down River is such an intense mystery and so intricately written that you'll wish the book never had to come to an end.I read his first novel " The King Of Lies" and again I was so evoked by the characters that the book needed a special place in my home because it was too good to ever part with.

---

Rating: - Characters are way too simplistic
The characters in this story are way too one-dimensional and, for the most part, not appealing for the story to be all that compelling. Virtually every character is angry, thinks of himself or herself as a victim with an axe to grind, cannot carry on a simple, rational conversation, and overreacts to every development often with violence. People just can't function with the level of hostility and anger that the author has bestowed upon these characters. The conclusion suffers from those same excesses. Obviously, this very brief review differs from those that describe the book in glowing terms.