River Road A Novel

I picked up this book from a Half Price Books Sale a few months ago, because who can resist a $2 book. I had never heard of the Author, so I didn't have high hopes that it would be a page-turner. I assumed wrong, while even though the beginning was slow to start, the middle and end kept me guessing all the while, wondering who was to blame in the death of Leia Dawson. Very good read from Carol Goodman.

This story centers around Nan Lewis, who lost her daughter due to a hit and run. One night after a party given by one of her Coe-workers, Nan ends ups hitting what she thought was a deer. The next morning the police come to her door- telling her that her favorite students had been killed in a hit and run on the same road that she hit the deer (RiverRoad). The police are immediately suspicious due to the state of her car. She tells them that she hits a deer, but she starts questioning herself when the police finds a hair barrette in the wheel of her tire. This story started off slow, but it gradually picked up as I read on. This is more then just a tragic death of a girl. The event forces Nan to take a good hard look at her own life. She realizes that she had been stuck since her daughter's death, not only that she wakes up from denial in drinking habit. Plus the death of Leia- forces her to see things from the perspective of the woman who hit her daughter. though she didn't forgive her, she had saw her more in empathetic light. Which helped her own growth overall. The mystery of who really killed Leia I thought was very good, the author keeps on your toes, because their is so many layers to the story, the person who think did it, probably didn't do it. I highly recommend this book.

Nan Lewis is driving home from a faculty holiday party at the university in upstate New York where she works after learning she has been denied tenure. Upset and tired, she's startled when she hits a deer, but even more startled when, after exiting the car, she can't locate the animal. Nan eventually gives up, instead heading home, eager to avoid the ensuing snowstorm. The next morning she is woken with the news that one of her students was hit by a car and killed – in the same location as her accident with the deer. Nan, as a result of the damage to her car, is a suspect. Shunned by the school community and haunted by memories of her daughter's accident at the same spot six years earlier, Nan must investigate to clear her name. ******************** I really enjoyed Goodman's The Lake of Dead Languages so I was eager to dive into this one. It's a face-paced read, with twists and turns coming fast and hard almost from the start. The writing was atmospheric and moody, though the constant descriptions of trudging through snow got repetitive after a while. My biggest struggle with this novel was entirely wrapped up in the plot. There are enough characters with secrets to entertain the idea the idea that any one of them could have been the murderer, but I figured out the "whodunit" fairly early on. Even worse, the murderer gave quite the melodramatic monologue explaining their dastardly plot. There was a touch of a romantic story line that, surprisingly, didn't feel forced. Unfortunately, I didn't like Nan, as she was a bit of a snob, looking down on her fellow coworkers and being surprised that the police officer investigating her student's death was a reader. Ultimately this book was an okay read but wasn't my favorite by Goodman.