The River Sorrow: A Novel

by Craig Holden

In one of the most unique and powerfully realized debut novels of the decade, Craig Holden creates a page-turning drama that is both emotionally shattering and harrowingly plausible.

When a fatally burned victim is brought into the Morgantown General Hospital emergency room, a young doctor's life is changed irrevocably. For Dr. Adrian Lancaster, the arrival of "John Doe" is only the first of a bizarre and bloody series of events that will force him to relive his violent past and put him on the run. On the road and underground, accused and accuser, Lancaster's only hope for survival lies in facing the terrifying truth.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Thriller Suspense

415 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Craig Holden is the author of the novels The River Sorrow, The Last Sanctuary, Four Corners of Night, The Jazz Bird, The Narcissist's Daughter, and the forthcoming Matala. He is a recipient of the Great Lakes Book Award in Fiction, and was a featured guest at the Festival International du Roman Noir in Frontignan, France. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. He has taught at the Universities of Michigan and Toledo, and is currently the visiting writer at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he, his wife, four kids and two dogs, have settled at the edge of the high desert.

Reviews

[Linda Rowlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took a long hiatus in the last third of this novel because I did not want to take a hardback book on a trip. I was not so enthralled with the novel that I felt the need to pick it up as soon as I returned.

This book was too violent for me. The “good guys” were not really all that good. Brandon the cop tried his best. Lancaster the doctor performed good with his medical knowledge, but he was ultimately a weak man.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Dr. Adrian Lancaster; Lieut. Frank Brandon
SETTING: Central Michigan
RATING: 3.25
WHY: After Dr. Adrian Lancaster was caught stealing morphine, he did some rehab but was able to keep his medical privileges. He works in the ER and has also set up a clinic. When a horribly burned man is admitted, his world starts to fall apart and his past haunts him. Detective Frank Brandon comes to believe that Lancaster is being framed and works with him. The plot is hard to follow, and the climax implausible and disappointing.

[Kathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

confusing.

[Lainey Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

"life had taken on the texture of a dream, and in dreams there are no rules."

"He sold himself to the drug a long time ago and once sold he was owned forever. They taught him that in rehab... All he could do was be vigilant Day by day. Avoid it at all cost. Get help if you feel the need. Always remember that it owns you."

"Love is something you grow, like a plant.. it can begin anywhere but then it has to be cultivated, no matter who it is."

"Why do people finally decide to confess? It's an old mystery ...it may be something as simple as the fact they just get tired of carrying it around, like any other burden. And in the end the "why" of it doesn't really matter."

"Lancaster feels hollow, as if he has cast off a part of himself he will not pick up again. But this hollowness is not all together bad; it brings with it a lightness, too, roominess. His lungs feel freer. His breath comes more easily."

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The delivery of a horrifically burned man to his ER begins a series of brutal events that force Dr. Adrian Lancaster to relive a past he'd thought he'd succeeded in leaving behind for good - a past including drug addiction and ill-advised relationships, the echoes of both of which he is suddenly confronted with amidst more violence and death.

Gritty thriller with a bunch of twists I didn't see coming.

[Xavier Stegelin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is really nothing remarkable about The River Sorrow. The characters have a decent level of depth and interest, but even so I had a difficult time connecting with them. The story felt heavy handed and overblown at times, but I liked it enough to suggest it to my partner. I think mostly I just wasn't the target audience for this book honestly.

[Patsey]

Meh. Drugs. Dirty cops. Guns.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery starts off well, interesting and keeps your attention. I liked the main character, Adrian, from the beginning. He is a very appealing character as a doctor, a good man with the kind of bad boy thing going on. As soon as he took off his sterile bonnet and his long dark hair falls over his shoulders, that was it, I liked him. I mean saving lives and also having long dark hair, nice! The main detective was also a great character, a dogged cowboy type, whatever it takes to get the job done. But he was described as looking rather like, well I thought of Bozo the clown, sorry. Still, he was one good guy and I was appreciating him. Where the book bogs down is in all the multitude of characters and shady drug deals and characters talk, talk, talking to tell you what was going on rather than having the story let you know. Then there were some scenes that were just unpleasant, violent. I felt like the author decided he had to put in a certain amount of violence and certain amount of sex to make it a good seller. I'm not sure it really added to the book. The scenes that struck me as very real were the doing drugs scenes. Well I've never been a junkie so I don't know how real it was but it felt real and the pictures of it were so clear in my mind from the writing. The ending was also very good, unexpected in some ways but feeling like a proper ending for this book.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this was a great thriller! I was trying to piece together the whole mystery surrounding this story but I couldn't figure this one out, I had to wait until the end! Great novel.

From cover:

"The ponytailed doctor tries to sleep in the walk-in-clinic of a small midwestern city - and forget the image of a burn victim he treated earlier in the day. But for Dr. Adrian Lancaster there will be no rest. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Because the arrival of "John Doe" is just the beginning of a nightmare that will hurtle Lancaster back into a netherworld of violence and obsession that once nearly destroyed him. Suddenly implicated in a series of murders, shadowed by police. Lancaster's past floods back before his eyes-in a man's seared flesh, in the probing questions of cops, in the arms of a mysterious young woman. And suddenly he has no choice but to run, risking everything to prove he is innocent of an unthinkable crime."

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a debut novel, this is a strong showing - it combines the attributes of a medical thriller and that of a murder mystery. Adrian Lancaster is a reformed drug addict, now ED attending doctor, who in the opening chapter treats a severely burned patient which eventually sucks him into a multiple murder investigation. Lancaster ultimately proves to play a pivotal role in these crimes and his past indiscretions come back to haunt him. There is a fairly large cast of characters and admittedly at times it is difficult to follow the actual events that transpire to precipitate the various deaths. The novel was originally written in the 1990's but for the most part, this doesn't particularly date the book and nor the plot. One area where Holden falters is that none of his characters are very endearing or elicit much sympathy from the audience but he nonetheless manages to keep the pace moving along right up until the final pages.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but not great thriller

At times achingly slow, and at times seemingly in fast forward mode, The River Sorrow is just an "OK" book for me.

I readily admit that I could not really identify much with the reformed drug addict doctor (his behavior is odd at the beginning of the story with regards to the police investigation and moves illogically throughout most of the first half of the book) and this hurt my enjoyment of the book. However, the addict Summer Storm's character gets even more ridiculous as the story moves along (I'll not detail why so as to avoid spoilers).

On a pet peeve note, on page 243 of my edition Holden perpetuates the silly idea that police must identify themselves when they are undercover if they are asked, "Are you a cop?" Jeez.

Not good, not bad. Just a book.

http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a really good premise on the back cover ( The pony tailed doctor tries to sleep....)that made me want to read it. Unfortunately I had trouble getting into the book. When I would put it down and start reading again the next day I would have trouble remembering the story line and where I had left off. I think part of it was due to the fact the main character Dr. Lancaster had his past life of drug addiction come back to haunt him in the form of murders he was a suspect for. He didn't know what was going on and was trying to figure things out. I was never draw to liking him or any of the characters. I think better character developement would have helped me like the book better. After reading it I thought it could be the plot of a TV show or movie

[Goldenwattle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective Brandon was my favourite character. I didn't like the doctor much, finding him a weak personality and I never understood his modification for taking off and disappearing. The story didn't have a convincing enough argument for him doing this. If he had stayed and carried on as normal what was going to happen? The story wasn't convincing that anything would happen if he ignored what was happening and kept out of it. The story is hard to explain, because it was a bit rambling and often I had trouble picking up on the relevance of some happenings and this continued right to the end. Still I did enjoy the read.

[Nik · Rating 1 out of 5]

YAWN. So, so boring. This took me months to get through because every time I picked it up, I just couldn't get through it. It's rare that a book is SO bad that it brings me to a reading block that lasts months. It was a chore to slog through and did not satisfy in the end. If I were the type of person to not finish books, I probably would have quit in the first 50 pages. Unfortunately, I am a masochist who will suffer through books even when I know they are a waste of my time. I read this so you don't have to.... it's not worth it.

[miteypen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the second Craig Holden book I read and I'm sorry to say I didn't care for it. Fortunately I read a later novel, Four Corners of Night, before I read this one, because Four Corners is excellent. I'm going to try a couple more of Holden's books to see if he ever repeats the quality of Four Corners.

[Kearney · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick though somwhat gory and illucid (or is it unlucid) read. No particularly crazy twists but the character development was strong, just got lost and too self-involved by the end. Quick summary - good plane read, for those 5-6 hour flights.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly decent mystery set in the seamy side of working class Michigan on the fringes of Detroit. Most interesting for its lead character; a doctor with a shady past who is suspected of bringing a deadly synthetic form of heroin back into circulation.

[Salli Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, gave this book fabulous review, I thought is was just a so-so beach read. Murder in a small town.....

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very decent thriller.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was right up my alley!!! I stumbled on this book at the library and I recommend it to everyone who loves several plot twists in one story.

[Jonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page-turner. Well developed characters - a great read.

[Sher Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very captivating mystery novel - some twists and turns that I did not expect and one that I realized only on the same page that it was revealed!

[Theodore Kinni · Rating 3 out of 5]

His past returns to haunt an ER doc/ex-junkie in this good thriller - surprised it hasn't popped up as movie

[Ali Bhatti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite interesting, though it gets confusing at some parts but over all the main protagonists are well developed and it makes for a good read.