Karen Katchur | RIVER BODIES

Plot (via Goodreads):

A body just turned up in the small town of Portland, Pennsylvania. The crime is eerily similar to a twenty-year-old cold case: another victim, brutally murdered, found in the Delaware River. Lead detective Parker Reed is intent on connecting the two murders, but the locals are on lockdown, revealing nothing.

The past meets the present when Becca Kingsley, who returns to Portland to be with her estranged but dying father, runs into Parker, her childhood love. As the daughter of the former police chief, Becca's quickly drawn into the case. Coming home has brought something ominous to the surface - memories long buried, secrets best kept hidden. Becca starts questioning all her past relationships, including one with a man who's watched over her for years. For the first time, she wonders if he's more predator than protector.

In a small town where darkness hides in plain sight, the truth could change Becca's life - or end it.

Review:

So, this is one of those reading experiences that was so back-and-forth for me that I wondered if this review would be really short or way too long. I'll try to keep it light. For a reader who is usually intimidated by book series and avoided them like the plague, I was eager to pick up River Bodies by Karen Katchur. I'm overcoming my fear and ready to take on new series (only if I can pick up at book one, haha!)

This one started off fantastically for me. I was really riveted with the beginning of the novel. It was dark and intriguing and left me begging for more. As the novel progressed, the writing style was just not really working for me but the story did. On a positive note, I really liked the direction Katchur went in by telling us exactly who the killer was and building a story-line for both the protagonist and the antagonist. Not only do they each have their own stories, but they weave together wonderfully as Katchur travels down a dark path and drags the reader into the dark. I liked the kind of Sons of Anarchy theme that ran through the the novel. The story definitely held my interest throughout and did keep me entertained.

The only thing that didn't work for me was that the flashback scenes were so often and set up in a way that flowed unnaturally with the current story. There was too much to remember and you had to be really careful as the flashback scenes and present scenes weren't separated very well for me as a reader. While this is a novel where the backstory is equally as important as the present time, I just felt as though I got some answers by the end but I kind of lost touch of what the plot to this novel was.

Special thanks to BookSparks and Amazon Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 2.5/5