What do you think?
Rate this book
Bell Elkins #5
Sorrow Road
From the small towns of Appalachia they came, the young men who joined the fight for liberty in World War II. Now they are elderly, and some of them—like Harmon Strayer, father of prosecutor Bell Elkins's former law school classmate—suffer from Alzheimer's. When Harmon dies in an Alzheimer's care facility from what appear to be natural causes, Bell confronts a mystery that brims with questions about memory, grief and the lethal cost of burying the past. During a winter of record snow and cold, Bell and the people of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, face isolation and hardship—and the threat from a killer who preys upon the old and the sick and the helpless.
365 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 23, 2016
122 people are currently reading
1385 people want to read
About the author
Julia Keller
29 books482 followersJulia was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from Marshall University, then later earned a doctoral degree in English Literature at Ohio State University.
She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is a guest essayist on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and has been a contributor on CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.
She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is a guest essayist on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and has been a contributor on CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
Read
October 13, 2016The Hook - A favorite series of mine continues with this 5th entry in the BellElkins Series.
The Line(s) - ”There’s no such thing as history,” Bell went on. “because it’s all still right here. The past never goes away. It’s in the air. It’s all around you, every second. It’s just another name for the present.”
The Sinker - The Bell Elkins Series are mysteries and yes, there are murders, but these play second fiddle to the locale and characters. Acker’s Gap, West Virginia is a much a character as Bell herself, a Raythune County Prosecutor.
Keller seemed to get back on track in this latest outing. There is enough development of Bell, her daughter, and her love life while continuing to draw a portrait and reveal the true spirit of the Appalachian Mountains and those that live there.
Sorrow Road’s mystery revolves around the death of an elderly man in a memory care facility. Bell is asked to investigate the fishy death of an old acquaintance’s father. This leads to a dual story line of three boys, friends in the pre-World War II era. Secrets abound and it’s up to Bell to resolve the issues.
Though there was nothing earth shattering, it is comforting to become absorbed in familiar territory. Sorrow Road is solid entry in an appealing series.
The Line(s) - ”There’s no such thing as history,” Bell went on. “because it’s all still right here. The past never goes away. It’s in the air. It’s all around you, every second. It’s just another name for the present.”
The Sinker - The Bell Elkins Series are mysteries and yes, there are murders, but these play second fiddle to the locale and characters. Acker’s Gap, West Virginia is a much a character as Bell herself, a Raythune County Prosecutor.
Keller seemed to get back on track in this latest outing. There is enough development of Bell, her daughter, and her love life while continuing to draw a portrait and reveal the true spirit of the Appalachian Mountains and those that live there.
Sorrow Road’s mystery revolves around the death of an elderly man in a memory care facility. Bell is asked to investigate the fishy death of an old acquaintance’s father. This leads to a dual story line of three boys, friends in the pre-World War II era. Secrets abound and it’s up to Bell to resolve the issues.
Though there was nothing earth shattering, it is comforting to become absorbed in familiar territory. Sorrow Road is solid entry in an appealing series.
October 7, 2016
My review for Sorrow Road by Julia Keller will be posted here in the near future. Stay tuned.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
August 20, 2016
This review and more can be found on my blog at www.whatsbetterthanbooks.com
This is an atmospheric, character-driven, murder mystery that reminds us that sometimes one reckless event can have long-lasting repercussions.
The plot is well developed, suspenseful, and tragic. The writing is well done and remarkably descriptive. And the characters are highly complex, damaged, and in some cases depraved.
Although this is not an extremely fast-paced thriller, it is definitely entertaining and an enjoyable read.
Thank you to NetGalley, especially St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is an atmospheric, character-driven, murder mystery that reminds us that sometimes one reckless event can have long-lasting repercussions.
The plot is well developed, suspenseful, and tragic. The writing is well done and remarkably descriptive. And the characters are highly complex, damaged, and in some cases depraved.
Although this is not an extremely fast-paced thriller, it is definitely entertaining and an enjoyable read.
Thank you to NetGalley, especially St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 21, 2016
I had read the first two Bell Atkins books by Julia Keller and found them interesting. So I was pleased to be offered the fifth book in the series by netgalley.
There are several story lines here. The backstory of the men who fought in WWII, Bell’s daughter’s story concerning her PTSD and the actual mystery, involving the death of one of those WWII survivors and his daughter’s belief it was murder. Keller draws out each of these stories. This isn't a fast paced book. It’s richly detailed. Keller does an especially good job of describing West Virginia, not just the economy, but the people, the roads, the weather, the history. There is truly a sense of place with this book.
The characters are fully fleshed out, even the ones that aren't vital to the story. Keller takes the time to spell out the relationships. Again, she makes you understand the small town atmosphere and how inter-connected everyone is. It’s all about family, memory and past sins. I will definitely be seeking out books three and four in this series.
My thanks to netgalley for providing me an advance copy of this book.
October 9, 2016
This was a very enjoyable book by Julia Keller. I would rate it the second best in the series, after book one. It was highly atmospheric, set in the dead of a snowy West Virginia winter, with several story lines running at once. I will definitely be looking for the next book in the series!
March 28, 2021
It was fun to go back to Ackers Gap, WV, with county prosecutor Bell Elkins, for this mystery. As usual with Julia Keller's mystery series, the book caused me to think as much about human nature and societal issues as it did the specific mysteries involved here: did Bell's former classmate Darlene really just miss that turn on an icy, curving road, or was there more to her accident? And was the death of Darlene's father truly brought on by natural causes? What about the other recent deaths at the Thornapple Terrace Alzheimer's care home? And what secrets does Carla bring home to Acker's Gap when she suddenly ups and leaves her new life in Washington, DC? Somehow, Keller manages to bring all these plot lines together, weaving them into a complex yet believable whole while stitching a few surprises into the finshed cloth.
I've read the Bell Elkins books in order, which provides me continued growing insight into the backstory of Bell's life and the lives of her daughter and colleagues. Each mystery is new, though, so it's not necessary to begin with the first book; Keller does a nice job of inserting enough of the past into the present so that a reader new to the series gets a sense of the important elements that had come before without being weighed down by them. What is constant, in addition to the main characters, is the author's deep understanding and respect for the place in which the mysteries are set, specifically a small, deteriorating West Virginia town (fictional, yet representative of many). Here are people of all stripes, dealing with universal issues like parenting and jobs (or the lack of them) and poverty and power. And, of course, there are the drugs, a scourge which stripped the place of some of its best human resources just as the surface mines stripped much of the hills' beauty. The place is scarred, the people are scarred, yet they carry on as best they can, doing as much good as they can given their situations. All of this is treated with compassion and dignity, a gift to a population which has been discounted and undervalued for generations.
I find these books to be well-written, entertaining, compelling, and insightful. I'll be returning to Ackers Gap to experience more with Bell Elkins, I'm sure. Meanwhile, I'll hope Ms. Keller continues to add to the series. It's one of the more enjoyable mystery series I've found in recent years. If you like good writing, interesting characters, and mysteries coupled with "real" issues, this series is for you. "Sorrow Road" is one of the best so far.
I've read the Bell Elkins books in order, which provides me continued growing insight into the backstory of Bell's life and the lives of her daughter and colleagues. Each mystery is new, though, so it's not necessary to begin with the first book; Keller does a nice job of inserting enough of the past into the present so that a reader new to the series gets a sense of the important elements that had come before without being weighed down by them. What is constant, in addition to the main characters, is the author's deep understanding and respect for the place in which the mysteries are set, specifically a small, deteriorating West Virginia town (fictional, yet representative of many). Here are people of all stripes, dealing with universal issues like parenting and jobs (or the lack of them) and poverty and power. And, of course, there are the drugs, a scourge which stripped the place of some of its best human resources just as the surface mines stripped much of the hills' beauty. The place is scarred, the people are scarred, yet they carry on as best they can, doing as much good as they can given their situations. All of this is treated with compassion and dignity, a gift to a population which has been discounted and undervalued for generations.
I find these books to be well-written, entertaining, compelling, and insightful. I'll be returning to Ackers Gap to experience more with Bell Elkins, I'm sure. Meanwhile, I'll hope Ms. Keller continues to add to the series. It's one of the more enjoyable mystery series I've found in recent years. If you like good writing, interesting characters, and mysteries coupled with "real" issues, this series is for you. "Sorrow Road" is one of the best so far.
June 17, 2019
5th in the series. this one seemed ponderous and concerned more with "Mightier than thou" Belfa Elkins, her daughter Carla who is traumatised by previous shooting at the diner and subsequent kidnapping and yet still comes over as a spoilt brat. Her father who calls in favours to have her court case vanish with a fine. The theme of cover ups and poor relationships goes through the book with the main event 3 boys who run down and kill a 5 year old and her grandmother but manage to get out but their memories out live the WW2 navy service and years back in West Virginia.
Lots of killings and Carla up to her ears in a near hostage situation at an Alzheimer's facility. Oh! There is good old Clay coming round for a shag and then pushed out again. Time to give her the heave ho mate!
Ok read but not inspiring. Wants to make me scream at times.
Lots of killings and Carla up to her ears in a near hostage situation at an Alzheimer's facility. Oh! There is good old Clay coming round for a shag and then pushed out again. Time to give her the heave ho mate!
Ok read but not inspiring. Wants to make me scream at times.
September 28, 2016
ARC received from publisher via NetGalley
It's never a good sign when I keep setting aside a book I am reading and Sorrow Road is one of those kind of reads. When I selected this book from NetGalley I did not realize it was the fifth in the Bell Elkins series and that was my mistake. It's clear to this reader that to develop a love for this small town West Virginian prosecutor you are advised to read books one through four.
The plot was complex enough with Belle asked by a college classmate and rival to investigate the nursing home where her beloved father died under mysterious circumstances. There are some flashbacks to three local boys who ran rough through the town and enlisted in the navy to get away from their covered up crimes. There is also a plot involving Belle's daughter Carla who returns from the city suffering from PTSD thanks to a hostage situation in a previous novel. It's hard to bond with a character you know little about. I never warmed up to Carla.
Add in a ex-husband, a currently spurned boyfriend and a setting of bleak winter storms and dangerous roads and I struggled to stay engaged or concerned for the welfare of any of the main players.
I recommend you read this series from the first novel. Julia Keller writes well and knowing the back stories of her main characters is sure to enhance your enjoyment of her novels. Jumping into the story in the middle of a winter storm on many a hot August read was not a great move on my part.
It's never a good sign when I keep setting aside a book I am reading and Sorrow Road is one of those kind of reads. When I selected this book from NetGalley I did not realize it was the fifth in the Bell Elkins series and that was my mistake. It's clear to this reader that to develop a love for this small town West Virginian prosecutor you are advised to read books one through four.
The plot was complex enough with Belle asked by a college classmate and rival to investigate the nursing home where her beloved father died under mysterious circumstances. There are some flashbacks to three local boys who ran rough through the town and enlisted in the navy to get away from their covered up crimes. There is also a plot involving Belle's daughter Carla who returns from the city suffering from PTSD thanks to a hostage situation in a previous novel. It's hard to bond with a character you know little about. I never warmed up to Carla.
Add in a ex-husband, a currently spurned boyfriend and a setting of bleak winter storms and dangerous roads and I struggled to stay engaged or concerned for the welfare of any of the main players.
I recommend you read this series from the first novel. Julia Keller writes well and knowing the back stories of her main characters is sure to enhance your enjoyment of her novels. Jumping into the story in the middle of a winter storm on many a hot August read was not a great move on my part.
July 27, 2017
Really 3.5 stars. This is Book #5 in a series. Great characters and setting. The story has a mostly sad quality. Even the fairly predictable reason for the crimes is just, bottom line, sad.
But that is often how real life is. It's not that shocking why someone does a very bad thing, but old hurts and fears, going back to childhood and sometimes even earlier, can influence all of us, to the banality of evil acts.
The reason it is under 4 stars is the stilted language and odd choice to avoid obvious and reasonable contractions. Not sure if this is the fault of the writer or editor (or both!), but had someone read the book out loud, the cadence of the writing would have helped determine where it was appropriate to put in contractions, and where they shouldn't have been used.
I still found the story well told and will go back to the beginning of the series, but this stilted language issue is, quite honestly, distracting. If you read this, dear Julia Keller, this is a relatively easy fix. Seriously, do your readers a solid.
But that is often how real life is. It's not that shocking why someone does a very bad thing, but old hurts and fears, going back to childhood and sometimes even earlier, can influence all of us, to the banality of evil acts.
The reason it is under 4 stars is the stilted language and odd choice to avoid obvious and reasonable contractions. Not sure if this is the fault of the writer or editor (or both!), but had someone read the book out loud, the cadence of the writing would have helped determine where it was appropriate to put in contractions, and where they shouldn't have been used.
I still found the story well told and will go back to the beginning of the series, but this stilted language issue is, quite honestly, distracting. If you read this, dear Julia Keller, this is a relatively easy fix. Seriously, do your readers a solid.
September 28, 2016
I was disappointed with this book. It lacked the cohesion of the others in the series.
March 30, 2018
Sorrow Road is the fifth entry in the Bell Elkins series. Bell is a prosecutor in a small town in West Virginia. Julia Keller takes an unflinching look at the poverty in this area. When people have little money, desperation can take control.
Bell is contacted by a high powered attorney who is a former law school classmate. The two have a prickly relationship. Darlene Strayer's father was a resident of a long term care facility when he passed away. Darlene feels there was foul play involved with his death. Bell is dismissive, the elderly man had suffered from Alzheimer's for some time. When Darlene also dies, her partner contacts Bell demanding she investigate. Reluctantly, Bell pokes around and is soon suspicious that something could be wrong. The story moves back and forth between WW II and the present day. Although dual story lines are a favourite of mine, I preferred the present day events in this novel.
The books in this series are character driven. Opening one is like catching up with old friends. Highly recommend new readers start with the first book, A Killing in the Hills, to get maximum enjoyment out of subsequent books. Sorrow Road does refer to circumstances that occurred in Keller's debut.
Bell is contacted by a high powered attorney who is a former law school classmate. The two have a prickly relationship. Darlene Strayer's father was a resident of a long term care facility when he passed away. Darlene feels there was foul play involved with his death. Bell is dismissive, the elderly man had suffered from Alzheimer's for some time. When Darlene also dies, her partner contacts Bell demanding she investigate. Reluctantly, Bell pokes around and is soon suspicious that something could be wrong. The story moves back and forth between WW II and the present day. Although dual story lines are a favourite of mine, I preferred the present day events in this novel.
The books in this series are character driven. Opening one is like catching up with old friends. Highly recommend new readers start with the first book, A Killing in the Hills, to get maximum enjoyment out of subsequent books. Sorrow Road does refer to circumstances that occurred in Keller's debut.
April 9, 2018
That’s enough of West Virginia for me for awhile. This was better than the last one and it actually ended - no “I’ve got to read the next one to see what happens.” It was a cruel, rude look at Alzheimer’s. She makes it sound like West Virginia is only filled with sleazy bars, obese men and women, rednecks, abusive fathers and slutty mothers - doesn’t make you want to visit.
This is her second theme of “crimes” that would more and likely not be punished, but made the participants live lives of guilt and/or pain. Shirley certainly would have been exonerated and these three boys would never have gone to jail - they were 12 years old!! The moral is to tell the truth, but then we’d have not had two books.
The author made me feel I was watching the Weather Channel - okay, it’s snowing, we don’t need page after page describing it.
Again what I consider editing errors - how can Nick be a demon with a shovel with his bad arm? Who is paying to keep Bill Ferris in this fancy home? Both kids hate him. What young girl is going to invite a 50 year old man to sit in her car in a raunchy bar parking lot and then fall for him? These guys seem way to active for 90 years old. Too much garbage that should have been cleaned up.
This is her second theme of “crimes” that would more and likely not be punished, but made the participants live lives of guilt and/or pain. Shirley certainly would have been exonerated and these three boys would never have gone to jail - they were 12 years old!! The moral is to tell the truth, but then we’d have not had two books.
The author made me feel I was watching the Weather Channel - okay, it’s snowing, we don’t need page after page describing it.
Again what I consider editing errors - how can Nick be a demon with a shovel with his bad arm? Who is paying to keep Bill Ferris in this fancy home? Both kids hate him. What young girl is going to invite a 50 year old man to sit in her car in a raunchy bar parking lot and then fall for him? These guys seem way to active for 90 years old. Too much garbage that should have been cleaned up.
May 3, 2021
3.5
I didn’t realize that this book was a part of a series but I enjoyed this one as a stand-alone and am intrigued enough that I want to read the previous books.
I didn’t realize that this book was a part of a series but I enjoyed this one as a stand-alone and am intrigued enough that I want to read the previous books.
June 27, 2018
I LOVED THIS BOOK!
The writing was fluid, it, and the story itself, drew you in quickly. This story had many many levels......and much to ponder. I had never read anything by the author or about "Bell Elkins". It didn't matter. I understood where she was and how she got there in this novel alone. I will search other books by J Keller. Best book I read in a long time.
It's a mystery, and a saga, and thought provoking...about wars, and poverty and alzheimer's.
The writing was fluid, it, and the story itself, drew you in quickly. This story had many many levels......and much to ponder. I had never read anything by the author or about "Bell Elkins". It didn't matter. I understood where she was and how she got there in this novel alone. I will search other books by J Keller. Best book I read in a long time.
It's a mystery, and a saga, and thought provoking...about wars, and poverty and alzheimer's.
March 19, 2017
A good mystery with interesting characters -
Read Across the States: West Virginia
Read Across the States: West Virginia
February 9, 2017
I really enjoy Julia Keller’s mysteries because her novels are full of beautiful prose and fine character development. Set in West Virginia, they shine a light on the troubled area where Keller grew up, a setting of natural beauty beset with unemployment, poverty and drug abuse.
Prosecutor Belfa Elkins was one of the rare residents who escaped Acker’s Gap, got a law degree, and decided to come back to make a difference in her troubled home. In Keller’s fifth book, Sorrow Road, Bell starts looking into whether there is something suspicious about the deaths of a high school friend’s father at an Alzheimer’s nursing facility. In the meantime, Bell’s grown daughter, Carla, comes home to Acker’s Gap to face her troubled past. Carla, who as a high school student witnessed the murder of her best friend before she was kidnapped and almost killed herself, is struggling with haunted memories. I enjoy reading mysteries where the protagonist has to face family problems as well as solve murders, and the relationship between Bell and Carla is complex and interesting.
If you haven’t read Keller’s books yet, I would start with the first of the five-book series, A Killing in the Hills. Keller has come to our library twice to speak as part of our Authors Out Loud series, and she was one of the best speakers we have ever had. Her writing reflects her depth of knowledge and insight about life.
Prosecutor Belfa Elkins was one of the rare residents who escaped Acker’s Gap, got a law degree, and decided to come back to make a difference in her troubled home. In Keller’s fifth book, Sorrow Road, Bell starts looking into whether there is something suspicious about the deaths of a high school friend’s father at an Alzheimer’s nursing facility. In the meantime, Bell’s grown daughter, Carla, comes home to Acker’s Gap to face her troubled past. Carla, who as a high school student witnessed the murder of her best friend before she was kidnapped and almost killed herself, is struggling with haunted memories. I enjoy reading mysteries where the protagonist has to face family problems as well as solve murders, and the relationship between Bell and Carla is complex and interesting.
If you haven’t read Keller’s books yet, I would start with the first of the five-book series, A Killing in the Hills. Keller has come to our library twice to speak as part of our Authors Out Loud series, and she was one of the best speakers we have ever had. Her writing reflects her depth of knowledge and insight about life.
Read
September 27, 2016As a record-breaking snowstorm wreaks havoc on the remote town of Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, Bell anxiously awaits the arrival of her 21-year-old daughter, Carla, who insists on driving treacherous roads to get home, a place she could not wait to get away from after a traumatic incident several years earlier. Nearby, several nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s recently died, including the father of Bell’s former law school classmate who asks Bell, a prosecuting attorney, to look closely at the circumstances which may be tied to a decades-old secret between three young men who participated in the DDay operation of June, 1944. Keller deftly knits together these suspenseful stories tied to the nature of memory and how it affects the past and the present.
VERDICT
Keller, Pulitzer Prize winner for Feature Writing, has roots in West Virginia and excels in creating a vast yet intimate sense of place. Welcoming readers into this region inhabited by warmhearted people where history runs deep is skillfully contrasted with severe economic problems of this region and the crimes that can result. Fans of Linda Castillo’s Sworn to Silence, where another simple lifestyle abuts against serious crime, will embrace this.
Note: This review was submitted to Library Journal for its use on 8-5-16.
VERDICT
Keller, Pulitzer Prize winner for Feature Writing, has roots in West Virginia and excels in creating a vast yet intimate sense of place. Welcoming readers into this region inhabited by warmhearted people where history runs deep is skillfully contrasted with severe economic problems of this region and the crimes that can result. Fans of Linda Castillo’s Sworn to Silence, where another simple lifestyle abuts against serious crime, will embrace this.
Note: This review was submitted to Library Journal for its use on 8-5-16.
August 31, 2016
This is the first book I have read in this series, but I had no problem understanding who the characters are. The book excels in setting an atmospheric tone - in this case a small town in West Virginia in the middle of a brutal winter. Bell Elkins is the local county prosecutor. Her old friend, who has moved away, has asked her to look into the possibility that her father was murdered in a facility that cares for Alzheimer's patients.
The heart of the story involves three friends who shared an incident in 1938 that is now haunting their lives as they reach their old age, and the way that old incident has colored their entire adulthood. A secondary plot involves Bell's daughter Carla, and how she has coped with trouble in her own life.
While I thought there was a little too much emphasis on the weather conditions (which do play a role in the story), and a bit too much repetition of recounting the past events, the story was gripping and had a very satisfactory conclusion.
The heart of the story involves three friends who shared an incident in 1938 that is now haunting their lives as they reach their old age, and the way that old incident has colored their entire adulthood. A secondary plot involves Bell's daughter Carla, and how she has coped with trouble in her own life.
While I thought there was a little too much emphasis on the weather conditions (which do play a role in the story), and a bit too much repetition of recounting the past events, the story was gripping and had a very satisfactory conclusion.
Read
February 8, 2017I just finished reading "Sorrow Road" by Julia Keller. It is a murder mystery, but more than that, it goes into Alzheimer's disease in depth. In 1944, three young men from a small town in West Virginia, participate in D-Day. They are school boy friends and they enlisted in the Navy together. However, before that, they were involved in an event that eventually changed their lives forever. How could what they did involve the death of an old man in an Appalachian nursing home seventy-two years later? The story is fast-paced, and very well written. I enjoyed the author's technique of going from the past to present seamlessly. This book would make for an interesting book club discussion. –Bob K.
November 1, 2016
Kicking myself for racing through this amazing series so fast, but at least I can track down the novellas and short stories to fill the time until the next book comes out.
This book needed more Nick and Belle moments.
This book needed more Nick and Belle moments.
November 15, 2016
I read this book because it was written by one of my favorite authors. Bell is a very strong character; mentally and physically. The story was full of adventure. The book was great entertainment. I can't wait for the next story to be written by this author.
January 12, 2017
I have to say, Keller's writing has only improved with each installation of this series. This is the best Bell Elkins book so far! A captivating, multi-layered mystery. And -- as a bonus -- you can easily pick it up and enjoy the read even if you're not familiar with Books #1-4.
October 17, 2016
Review to follow.
December 23, 2020
I'm currently in between a 3.5/4 star rating. For now, I'll leave it at a 4. This is the fifth book in the Bell Elkins series and like its predecessors, it's full of twists, turns, and surprises amok.
When Bell decides to meet up with an old friend, Darlene, from college, never did she think she'd be asked to solve a possible murder. Darlene believes her father, Harm's death is suspicious and not of natural causes. Harm had Alzheimers and was living in a nursing home. His health was declining quickly, so the assumption is that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Bell doesn't know where she stands on this, but decides that she'll look into it to see just to ease Darlene's mind.
However, the next day, Bell wakes up to news that Darlene drove off the side of the road and was killed in a car accident, leaving more questions than answers. Were Darlene and Harm's death planned? If so, why?
There are two other storylines in this tale. One of them focuses on Harm as a young man, when he joins the navy with his two best friends and becomes involved in D-Day. However, there are secrets that Harm and his friends, Vic and Arvie are hiding. Something that binds them together always, no matter the cost. The other storyline focuses on Bell's daughter, Carla (who was heavily featured in the debut novel). She's developed severe PTSD to the shooting and hostage situation that happened in the first book. She decides that she needs a change of pace and a second chance, so she moves back in with Bell, giving nothing away. However, there's another motivation in her decision, which continues to haunt her, until she can't run from it anymore. What could she have possibly done that was so bad that she's in escape mode?
Interestingly, all three storylines end up connecting to each other. However, I won't spoil how it goes there. The reveals are best kept a surprise for maximum enjoyment and intrigue. I found that while Harm's chapters are essential to the story, they were the most boring parts of the novel. Once I was in Bell and Carla's chapters, I was hooked, line, and sunk. It's a slow burn mystery that kept me on my toes once the twists started to unfold. I was satisfied with the end result. It all comes together in a way I wouldn't have expected it to go. Is it my favorite in the series? I'm not sure yet. I do think it was worth the read and has motivated to continue onto the next book, which has a storyline that interests me more. If you're interested in reading "Sorrow River,"I recommend that you read all of the books in the series in order. While Julia Keller intersperses recaps throughout each book, I think the best way to be connected is by absorbing yourself into the setting of Ackers Gap, West Virginia and experiencing each development along the way. After all, it's as much of a character as Bell and her daughter.
When Bell decides to meet up with an old friend, Darlene, from college, never did she think she'd be asked to solve a possible murder. Darlene believes her father, Harm's death is suspicious and not of natural causes. Harm had Alzheimers and was living in a nursing home. His health was declining quickly, so the assumption is that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Bell doesn't know where she stands on this, but decides that she'll look into it to see just to ease Darlene's mind.
However, the next day, Bell wakes up to news that Darlene drove off the side of the road and was killed in a car accident, leaving more questions than answers. Were Darlene and Harm's death planned? If so, why?
There are two other storylines in this tale. One of them focuses on Harm as a young man, when he joins the navy with his two best friends and becomes involved in D-Day. However, there are secrets that Harm and his friends, Vic and Arvie are hiding. Something that binds them together always, no matter the cost. The other storyline focuses on Bell's daughter, Carla (who was heavily featured in the debut novel). She's developed severe PTSD to the shooting and hostage situation that happened in the first book. She decides that she needs a change of pace and a second chance, so she moves back in with Bell, giving nothing away. However, there's another motivation in her decision, which continues to haunt her, until she can't run from it anymore. What could she have possibly done that was so bad that she's in escape mode?
Interestingly, all three storylines end up connecting to each other. However, I won't spoil how it goes there. The reveals are best kept a surprise for maximum enjoyment and intrigue. I found that while Harm's chapters are essential to the story, they were the most boring parts of the novel. Once I was in Bell and Carla's chapters, I was hooked, line, and sunk. It's a slow burn mystery that kept me on my toes once the twists started to unfold. I was satisfied with the end result. It all comes together in a way I wouldn't have expected it to go. Is it my favorite in the series? I'm not sure yet. I do think it was worth the read and has motivated to continue onto the next book, which has a storyline that interests me more. If you're interested in reading "Sorrow River,"I recommend that you read all of the books in the series in order. While Julia Keller intersperses recaps throughout each book, I think the best way to be connected is by absorbing yourself into the setting of Ackers Gap, West Virginia and experiencing each development along the way. After all, it's as much of a character as Bell and her daughter.
March 13, 2017
Maybe 3.5 for this, but another really good read from the Bell Elkins series. I always enjoy the total immersion into West Virginia culture and geography, and in this case, winter weather. There are a few niggling things that keep me from giving this one 4 or 5 stars though. I'm really getting weary of Bell's daughter, Carla. In past books she's been prickly, rather spoiled and selfish, and prone to stupid, impulsive decisions. Well, she was a teenager..ok. Then she endured a terrifying, horrible and violent trauma, so ok, she was entitled to some PTSD after that. But the tug of war between her divorced parents, both of whom love her but don't handle her particularly well, has resulted in even more dysfunction on the kid's part. In this book, dysfunction has morphed into complete meltdown and Carla has come home to escape the consequences. She's 21 now, and the whole shtick with her mother forever walking on eggshells, kid-gloving her and calling her "sweetie" endlessly is really getting old. In fairness, though, it does seem by the end of the book, Carla shows real signs of getting her act together. Also disappointing, and this is big for me, is the drastically reduced role of Nick Foglesang. He's a great character and I miss him--he added richness and complexity, and I loved their exchange of ideas when they dealt with a case. Another character, Clay, has not appeared much in the last few books either, and Bell is struggling with what role, if any, she wants him to have in her life. Well, sorry, I want them both to move on. She's WAY too old for him...he's much closer to Carla's age. If that makes me close-minded, so be it. If HE were 15 years older and had a son close to HER age, it would be creepy, so....
Now that I'm through ranting about the characters in the series, the plot and action in this one is terrific, as usual. Alzheimer's, D-Day, friendship, bullying, a long ago hit and run accident that was covered up...all tie together in this plot which has Bell and company, sans Nick, delving into the past while they try to solve some recent murders and work to prevent others. And all the while coping with snow storm after snow storm. Atmospheric and gripping!
Now that I'm through ranting about the characters in the series, the plot and action in this one is terrific, as usual. Alzheimer's, D-Day, friendship, bullying, a long ago hit and run accident that was covered up...all tie together in this plot which has Bell and company, sans Nick, delving into the past while they try to solve some recent murders and work to prevent others. And all the while coping with snow storm after snow storm. Atmospheric and gripping!
July 4, 2017
Sorrow Road
Mysterious Book Report No. 294
by John Dwaine McKenna
The green rolling hills of West Virginia
are the nearest thing to Heaven that I know
though the times are sad and drear
and I cannot linger here
they’ll keep me and never let me go . . .
are the opening words to a song that was made famous by Emmylou Harris. It was written by a folksinger, poet and one-time rail riding hobo named Utah Phillips—and it expresses his appreciation of, and love for, the incredible beauty of our thirty-fifth state. But, just like the rest of Appalachia, there’s another side of West Virginia, a place that’s been striped of natural resources, stripped of jobs and stripped of hope.
Sorrow Road, (Minotaur Books, PB, $15.99, 351 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-08959-5) by Julia Keller is the fourth novel in her Bell Elkins series, all of which take place in Ackers Gap, West Virginia . . . where she’s the prosecuting attorney for Rathune County. It’s a place hemmed in by mountains, beleaguered by seemingly unending snowstorms with raw, arctic-like temperatures in the present day . . . and it’s where, back in 1938 a crime was committed and covered up and forgotten, only to resurface in the twenty-first century with the death of an old man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in an Appalachian nursing home. That’s when an old college classmate and fellow attorney asks Bell to look into the circumstances . . . the man was her father. He was one of three local men who served aboard a battleship at Normandy during the D-day landing in 1944, where a short conversation results in deadly consequences seventy-two years in the future. As the bodies pile up and the mysteries deepen, this poignant tale of past deeds and modern consequences will keep you glued to the pages as the mystery unfolds while Bell juggles her job, iffy love-life and adult daughter Carla, who’s come home suddenly . . . harboring a dark, shameful secret of the go-to-jail kind! I promise . . . you won’t be able to put this tense and near-perfectly plotted novel down once you start reading. Although the MBR got to Ms. Keller’s party three books late, we promise to remedy that soon. And hey! Stay tuned, she’s got a new one, Fast Falls the Night coming in August. We’re looking forward to it.
Mysterious Book Report No. 294
by John Dwaine McKenna
The green rolling hills of West Virginia
are the nearest thing to Heaven that I know
though the times are sad and drear
and I cannot linger here
they’ll keep me and never let me go . . .
are the opening words to a song that was made famous by Emmylou Harris. It was written by a folksinger, poet and one-time rail riding hobo named Utah Phillips—and it expresses his appreciation of, and love for, the incredible beauty of our thirty-fifth state. But, just like the rest of Appalachia, there’s another side of West Virginia, a place that’s been striped of natural resources, stripped of jobs and stripped of hope.
Sorrow Road, (Minotaur Books, PB, $15.99, 351 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-08959-5) by Julia Keller is the fourth novel in her Bell Elkins series, all of which take place in Ackers Gap, West Virginia . . . where she’s the prosecuting attorney for Rathune County. It’s a place hemmed in by mountains, beleaguered by seemingly unending snowstorms with raw, arctic-like temperatures in the present day . . . and it’s where, back in 1938 a crime was committed and covered up and forgotten, only to resurface in the twenty-first century with the death of an old man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in an Appalachian nursing home. That’s when an old college classmate and fellow attorney asks Bell to look into the circumstances . . . the man was her father. He was one of three local men who served aboard a battleship at Normandy during the D-day landing in 1944, where a short conversation results in deadly consequences seventy-two years in the future. As the bodies pile up and the mysteries deepen, this poignant tale of past deeds and modern consequences will keep you glued to the pages as the mystery unfolds while Bell juggles her job, iffy love-life and adult daughter Carla, who’s come home suddenly . . . harboring a dark, shameful secret of the go-to-jail kind! I promise . . . you won’t be able to put this tense and near-perfectly plotted novel down once you start reading. Although the MBR got to Ms. Keller’s party three books late, we promise to remedy that soon. And hey! Stay tuned, she’s got a new one, Fast Falls the Night coming in August. We’re looking forward to it.
May 30, 2019
I love Julia Keller's books and Sorrow Road was no exception but it had a different feel than the earlier volumes in the series. Bell Elkins, prosecutor for Raythune County, West Virginia, was still the central character but she didn't seem to take up nearly as much space in this book. It felt weird. She was always there but her presence felt smaller somehow.
One story line in the book focused on a series of deaths at an Alzheimer's facility in a neighboring county that may well have been normal and expected but may have been something altogether different. One of the patients who died was the father of one of Bell's law school classmates, Darlene. She and Bell hadn't liked each other in law school and still didn't but Darlene had suspicions about her father's death and returned to Acker's Gap to ask Bell for help.
An interwoven story line involved the lives of three boys who grew up together in a nearby community and stayed "friends" throughout their lives, sharing a horrible secret. What were they willing to do to keep that part of their past a secret?
Bell's daughter Carla, was on her way back home to Acker's Gap with her own terrible secret. At the beginning of the book, my thought was "Carla's done it again," gotten herself into another big mess. By the time I got to the end of the book, I saw Carla in a whole new light and hope that she's going to play a major role in the next volume.
The theme of returning home again touches most of the characters in the book, Bell, Darlene, Carla, the three young men. "But I'm not sure you ever make it all the way back (home), you know? Once you've lived somewhere else? And so you end up caught between two worlds. You don't feel quite at home in either one of them. You're like a tightrope walker who gets to the halfway point on the wire--and suddenly you're afraid to go forward. But it's too far to go back."
Recommended.
One story line in the book focused on a series of deaths at an Alzheimer's facility in a neighboring county that may well have been normal and expected but may have been something altogether different. One of the patients who died was the father of one of Bell's law school classmates, Darlene. She and Bell hadn't liked each other in law school and still didn't but Darlene had suspicions about her father's death and returned to Acker's Gap to ask Bell for help.
An interwoven story line involved the lives of three boys who grew up together in a nearby community and stayed "friends" throughout their lives, sharing a horrible secret. What were they willing to do to keep that part of their past a secret?
Bell's daughter Carla, was on her way back home to Acker's Gap with her own terrible secret. At the beginning of the book, my thought was "Carla's done it again," gotten herself into another big mess. By the time I got to the end of the book, I saw Carla in a whole new light and hope that she's going to play a major role in the next volume.
The theme of returning home again touches most of the characters in the book, Bell, Darlene, Carla, the three young men. "But I'm not sure you ever make it all the way back (home), you know? Once you've lived somewhere else? And so you end up caught between two worlds. You don't feel quite at home in either one of them. You're like a tightrope walker who gets to the halfway point on the wire--and suddenly you're afraid to go forward. But it's too far to go back."
Recommended.
August 26, 2018
Big fan of Keller's writing and have enjoyed most of the series.
This one was by far my least favorite. The writing was fine, as always, but the plotting and overall story line left me wanting.
I imagine it's hard to write a series. At some point the author needs to figure out how to keep developing the main characters so that they remain fresh and interesting, basically progressing the background story, while coming up with fresh mysteries to solve.
Honestly, I think it's time to put this one to bed and start over. The poverty stricken West Virginian county of Acker's Gap used to add texture to the overall storyline, now it feels like an unwelcome distraction. Also, not sure Keller has done enough to develop her main character. In five books she hasn't seemed to change or grow, neither has her on again/off again relationship with Clay Meckling. Basically, I've grown weary of the main character Bell, never like her daughter Carla, and though Clay's character has potential, he is off screen more than on. I also like Deputy Oakes' character, which isn't explored in this book in any depth but to Keller's credit does become a focus in book 6.
I also did not like the World War II story that she tries weaving into the main story. The characters, their story, and the ultimate reveal is disjointed and failed to resonate.
I actually read book 6 out of order, so while this is technically book 5, it is the 6th novel that I've read and while I might read a 7th just because I do enjoy her writing style...I might not.
This one was by far my least favorite. The writing was fine, as always, but the plotting and overall story line left me wanting.
I imagine it's hard to write a series. At some point the author needs to figure out how to keep developing the main characters so that they remain fresh and interesting, basically progressing the background story, while coming up with fresh mysteries to solve.
Honestly, I think it's time to put this one to bed and start over. The poverty stricken West Virginian county of Acker's Gap used to add texture to the overall storyline, now it feels like an unwelcome distraction. Also, not sure Keller has done enough to develop her main character. In five books she hasn't seemed to change or grow, neither has her on again/off again relationship with Clay Meckling. Basically, I've grown weary of the main character Bell, never like her daughter Carla, and though Clay's character has potential, he is off screen more than on. I also like Deputy Oakes' character, which isn't explored in this book in any depth but to Keller's credit does become a focus in book 6.
I also did not like the World War II story that she tries weaving into the main story. The characters, their story, and the ultimate reveal is disjointed and failed to resonate.
I actually read book 6 out of order, so while this is technically book 5, it is the 6th novel that I've read and while I might read a 7th just because I do enjoy her writing style...I might not.
December 19, 2018
The Bell Elkins series is one of those series that you want to love, but it is too uneven to make it one of those that you feel the need to gush about to your friends. I like the setting, and none of the characters really bother me, yet the books themselves seem rather stop and go. I rated this book a 3 because I liked the set up. (Let me just admit it. I love anything that has a snow storm in the background.) Unfortunately it just sort of fell apart in the middle and died at the end. For me, a lot of the story was just too disjointed. The parts by themselves weren't bad, but they did not mesh well. I felt like Keller just could not decide what her main story should be. First and foremost, Carla's story did not work at all. It was ridiculous. Second the two different stories connected to the care facilities did not have any connection, so why do both? Keller should have picked one and stuck with it. The story of the 3 WWII boys and their lives was interesting, but it kind of got pushed to the side for the two abuse victims whose father was also in the same home. The two stories had no connection, so the abuse victims' story just distracted from the other one. And why were we given the story of the one WWII vet and his best friend's mother?
The ending was just stupid with Bell pulling the name of the killer out of her..... intuition or possibly someplace else. Then they all went down to the local hillbilly beer joint to confront the dude. I thought Carla's story was the dumbest part until I got to the big reveal.
The ending was just stupid with Bell pulling the name of the killer out of her..... intuition or possibly someplace else. Then they all went down to the local hillbilly beer joint to confront the dude. I thought Carla's story was the dumbest part until I got to the big reveal.
June 1, 2019
Here we go again. An engaging who-done-it set in poverty stricken/drug infested West Virginia with a cast of characters who you'll come to root for. But one of the joys in reading Julia Keller's works is savoring her adept use of the English language; her books contain some of the finest collections of metaphors and similes this side of the Mississippi. To wit: "His smile...lasted too long to be anything but an automatic response to stimuli, like an amoeba going from a comma to a period in reaction to light" (p. 2). Or how the roughed up surface of a bar table "absorbed their spilled beer and sopped up their unused dreams" (p. 16). Or "a mug of coffee nestled in her cupped palms like a battered chalice in a low-rent religious ceremony..." (p.25). Or "a sun the color of a saltine cracker" (p. 243). Or comparing folks left to live out their last days in a nursing home to "the frozen-food section at the supermarket; row after row of bundled muteness. No sign of life." (p. 319).
Ms. Keller also offers pause for thought with her insight into our ill-functioning society such as how elder abuse is prosecuted at a higher rate than child abuse because the former often occurs in semi-public settings whereas child abuse occurs in the secrecy of private homes. And how the abuse of baby elephants leaves them psychologically captive for life.
Well done once again, Ms. Keller! Long may you write!
Ms. Keller also offers pause for thought with her insight into our ill-functioning society such as how elder abuse is prosecuted at a higher rate than child abuse because the former often occurs in semi-public settings whereas child abuse occurs in the secrecy of private homes. And how the abuse of baby elephants leaves them psychologically captive for life.
Well done once again, Ms. Keller! Long may you write!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews