Review: Down River by John Hart

A synopsis from the book:

Everything that shaped him happened near that river…Now its banks are filled with lies and greed, shame and murder. Adam Chase has a violent streak and not without reason. As a boy in Rowan County, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred him. After narrowly being acquitted of a murder charge, Adam runs to New York City and fades away. Now 5 years laters, he’s back and no one knows why. Once he returns he is beaten, confronted by his family and an ex-girlfriend he still loves. Then bodies start turning up and the town turns against him. Adam is now in the fight for his life to prove his innocence and to reclaim the only life he has ever wanted.

I read this book for our August book club. This is typically not the kind of book I read. But, I was surprised by how each page encouraged me to keep reading. It was definately suspenseful and made you root for Adam and wonder who was behind all the murders. There was a lot of family turmoil and it was a bit depressing at times to read. But, I did enjoy it. The ending also leaves it open to the reader’s perception of what was next for Adam. You want to hope that he has happier times ahead. I would definately recommend this book. It is a quick read . There are numerous characters but they are easy to keep track of. I easily got wrapped into the storyline and started rooting for certain characters. The author did an amazing job developing the characters so they were easy to remember as well as picture. Some of the scenes in the story were very visible as I was reading them which made the story more real. There are numerous twists and turns to the storyline to keep you interested. The author took great care in developing the relationships between the characters and making them real to the reader.