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Dorris Bridge
Not every rural legend is just a legend....
You’ve heard of urban legends? Come take a trip to the 1970’s in Dorris Bridge, and discover a host of rural legends encircling this isolated small high desert Northeastern California town.
A series of tragic hit-and-runs and a thirty-year-old cold case disappearance plague a police chief caught in small town politics, while his son winds his way through his senior year of high school, dedicated to pranks, partying and pursuing the new girl in town.
Chief of Police Randall Burgess and son Kyle must also traverse a relationship strained by a decade-old family tragedy. Randall and Kyle, who don’t exactly see the world through the same lens, both get caught up in escalating series of events as these rural legends and mysteries unfold during the year, and eventually become intertwined.
Unexplained intensely bright lights and sounds that appear every few generations; a renegade band of Basque nomads in the desert; a polygamist cult; a haunted abandoned mansion on a hill; - these all find their way into outer reaches of Dorris Bridge.
Within these confines you’ll also find a Paiute reservation; a Japanese internee who disappears at the end of World War II; the state of Jefferson; 19th century Ghostdancers; a suicidal disc jockey who can’t get enough of Alvin and the Chipmunks; an over-abundance of saloons; and the student body of Paiute High School.
Who is behind the hit-and-run tragedies? What happened to Mitsou Nakamura? What is the meaning of the Lights from the sky? What secrets lie in the mansion on the hill? Book a ticket to Dorris Bridge, circa 1975-1976, and come see for yourself.
You’ve heard of urban legends? Come take a trip to the 1970’s in Dorris Bridge, and discover a host of rural legends encircling this isolated small high desert Northeastern California town.
A series of tragic hit-and-runs and a thirty-year-old cold case disappearance plague a police chief caught in small town politics, while his son winds his way through his senior year of high school, dedicated to pranks, partying and pursuing the new girl in town.
Chief of Police Randall Burgess and son Kyle must also traverse a relationship strained by a decade-old family tragedy. Randall and Kyle, who don’t exactly see the world through the same lens, both get caught up in escalating series of events as these rural legends and mysteries unfold during the year, and eventually become intertwined.
Unexplained intensely bright lights and sounds that appear every few generations; a renegade band of Basque nomads in the desert; a polygamist cult; a haunted abandoned mansion on a hill; - these all find their way into outer reaches of Dorris Bridge.
Within these confines you’ll also find a Paiute reservation; a Japanese internee who disappears at the end of World War II; the state of Jefferson; 19th century Ghostdancers; a suicidal disc jockey who can’t get enough of Alvin and the Chipmunks; an over-abundance of saloons; and the student body of Paiute High School.
Who is behind the hit-and-run tragedies? What happened to Mitsou Nakamura? What is the meaning of the Lights from the sky? What secrets lie in the mansion on the hill? Book a ticket to Dorris Bridge, circa 1975-1976, and come see for yourself.
446 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2010
9 people want to read
About the author
Clive Riddle
4 books10 followersClive Riddle is a life-long Californian, married and father of three. At age 26 Riddle became CEO of a regional HMO. After a decade, he went on to found MCOL (www.mcol.com), a leading health care business information company. Riddle has authored a variety of health care reference books and business articles. He is a noted speaker at national events regarding key health care business issues. Dorris Bridge was his first novel, The Burning Z was his second, and the Z Tailgate is his third. Find out more about Clive at www.CliveRiddle.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 1, 2011
Dorris Bridge piqued my interest because of the rural legends. I grew up in a place that is full of ghost stories and other mysterious things, like the Roswell incident and the Taos Hum. So with a tagline like "Not every rural legend is just a legend," I couldn't resist Dorris Bridge.
The novel grabbed my attention right away. It starts with two teenagers hanging out at the cliffs of Demon Ridge (and just the name Demon Ridge helps create a creepy atmosphere), and after their unsettling experience, the novel takes us to the discovery of a dead body (not by the teen boys, though). The novel actually did slow down during the first section, but it picked up again during the first rural legend section and completely took off from there. Once that happened, it was hard to stop turning the pages.
I love how Clive Riddle creates separate sections for each legend, to give us background information on the legend. These sections were some of the most interesting passages in the novel. Having knowledge of the rural legends, no matter how limited that knowledge is, was helpful when the legends actually made an appearance in the novel. There were so many creepy moments throughout this book, like when Kyle and his friends are in the haunted mansion, and when Kyle and his friends experience the Lights (especially at the beginning, when Kyle and Rick are looking for Kyle's keys, and find them with the help of the Lights). At these moments, I felt like I knew just enough about the rural legends for these scenes to creep me out. If I hadn't known anything about the legends, I might not have cared about these scenes. If I had known too much, the scenes would not have been nearly as creepy as they were. Riddle struck the perfect balance in how much information to give readers about the legends.
Normally, when I read a novel, I know almost right away if I'm emotionally invested in the characters. With Dorris Bridge, that wasn't the case. As much as I loved the story and all its intricacies, I read the majority of the novel thinking that I didn't really care about the characters. By the time I got to the end, I realized just how wrong I was. As it turns out, I was more emotionally invested in the characters, especially Kyle, Randall, and Rick, than I thought. As the novel got closer and closer to coming to an end, my emotions really came out. I knew what I wanted for each of those characters, and I knew there was the potential for me to be greatly disappointed by the outcome of everything that was happening. By the time I was finished reading, I was definitely satisfied. I was happy with the way the novel ended for some of the characters. I was also sad about the way the novel ended for other characters, and though there's a part of me that wishes the novel had ended differently, I think it ended the way it should have.
It's worth noting that with Riddle's debut comes some fantastic writing but also some weak writing. The italicized sections on the rural legends represent some of the strongest writing in the novel. There are also some beautifully rendered scenes, my favorite being the first scene, with Kyle and Rick hanging out at Demon Ridge before starting their senior year of high school. The writing is weak in other areas, especially where dialog is summarized instead of actually being a conversation between characters. And for people who are sticklers for grammar, there are grammatical mistakes spattered throughout the novel.
None of this, however, was enough to make me stop reading. A strong plot and fantastic characters carried me through this book. Though the rural legends played an important part in the book, the heart of the book lies in Kyle and his relationship with his father. I would have liked to see more of the rural legends, but I loved watching Kyle and his father grow and change, not only as individuals, but also in their relationship. Dorris Bridge is a good debut. I look forward to reading more of Clive Riddle; I can't wait to see what he has in store next.
The novel grabbed my attention right away. It starts with two teenagers hanging out at the cliffs of Demon Ridge (and just the name Demon Ridge helps create a creepy atmosphere), and after their unsettling experience, the novel takes us to the discovery of a dead body (not by the teen boys, though). The novel actually did slow down during the first section, but it picked up again during the first rural legend section and completely took off from there. Once that happened, it was hard to stop turning the pages.
I love how Clive Riddle creates separate sections for each legend, to give us background information on the legend. These sections were some of the most interesting passages in the novel. Having knowledge of the rural legends, no matter how limited that knowledge is, was helpful when the legends actually made an appearance in the novel. There were so many creepy moments throughout this book, like when Kyle and his friends are in the haunted mansion, and when Kyle and his friends experience the Lights (especially at the beginning, when Kyle and Rick are looking for Kyle's keys, and find them with the help of the Lights). At these moments, I felt like I knew just enough about the rural legends for these scenes to creep me out. If I hadn't known anything about the legends, I might not have cared about these scenes. If I had known too much, the scenes would not have been nearly as creepy as they were. Riddle struck the perfect balance in how much information to give readers about the legends.
Normally, when I read a novel, I know almost right away if I'm emotionally invested in the characters. With Dorris Bridge, that wasn't the case. As much as I loved the story and all its intricacies, I read the majority of the novel thinking that I didn't really care about the characters. By the time I got to the end, I realized just how wrong I was. As it turns out, I was more emotionally invested in the characters, especially Kyle, Randall, and Rick, than I thought. As the novel got closer and closer to coming to an end, my emotions really came out. I knew what I wanted for each of those characters, and I knew there was the potential for me to be greatly disappointed by the outcome of everything that was happening. By the time I was finished reading, I was definitely satisfied. I was happy with the way the novel ended for some of the characters. I was also sad about the way the novel ended for other characters, and though there's a part of me that wishes the novel had ended differently, I think it ended the way it should have.
It's worth noting that with Riddle's debut comes some fantastic writing but also some weak writing. The italicized sections on the rural legends represent some of the strongest writing in the novel. There are also some beautifully rendered scenes, my favorite being the first scene, with Kyle and Rick hanging out at Demon Ridge before starting their senior year of high school. The writing is weak in other areas, especially where dialog is summarized instead of actually being a conversation between characters. And for people who are sticklers for grammar, there are grammatical mistakes spattered throughout the novel.
None of this, however, was enough to make me stop reading. A strong plot and fantastic characters carried me through this book. Though the rural legends played an important part in the book, the heart of the book lies in Kyle and his relationship with his father. I would have liked to see more of the rural legends, but I loved watching Kyle and his father grow and change, not only as individuals, but also in their relationship. Dorris Bridge is a good debut. I look forward to reading more of Clive Riddle; I can't wait to see what he has in store next.
February 12, 2011
Dorris Bridge tells the tale of Police Chief Randall Burgess. He and his wife and son, Kyle, live in the small California town of Dorris Bridge. Kyle is a senior at the local high school, and he hangs out and pulls pranks with his friends Rick and Brad. When Rick and Brad see the Lights the night before school starts, they think it's just a drunk hallucination. But other citizens of the town, including Tornado and others, start seeing them also. Coincidentally, whenever the Lights appear, someone who is hanging out on Demon Ridge gets hit by a car. Most of the book is spent trying to find out who is causing these hit-and-run cases, and also, some ghost cases that Randall tries solving from years ago.
The book is very descriptive. There is so much in this book, it's crazy. However, I really loved Riddle's writing skills. And I think that was a main reason why I was so into the book, and kept on reading. All his words just flowed together and it made the book better. The book itself was alright. There was just a lot going on at once, and wayy to many backstories for even my liking. In between each chapter, there was a backstory, and it involved all the characters of the book. I liked how everyone was intertwined. That was pretty cool.
When the hit-and-run case came to a close, and Randall discovered who it was, that was kinda dull. The guy who did it was very well known in town, and then he had a backstory for doing it. I thought his excuse for doing it was very dumb, because he wanted to protect someone, and he didn't know he was doing it, even though 2 people died. Really? The urban legends part was cool, though. I liked how Riddle described what was going on when the Lights struck the characters. Of course, I loved the epilogue. I like when books do a 'Ten years later' sort of thing.
I had a love/hate relationship with Randall and Kyle. As a father and son duo, you would expect them to be fighting crime together, side by side. But Randall has a lot of resentment for his son. A family accident years earlier has Randall blaming Kyle for a death that he couldn't have controlled. You can see Kyle trying to talk to his father, and I think they really bonded over the last hit-and-run case that occurred.
Overall, Dorris Bridge is good for readers who like mystery, family, and some sci-fi thrown in.
The book is very descriptive. There is so much in this book, it's crazy. However, I really loved Riddle's writing skills. And I think that was a main reason why I was so into the book, and kept on reading. All his words just flowed together and it made the book better. The book itself was alright. There was just a lot going on at once, and wayy to many backstories for even my liking. In between each chapter, there was a backstory, and it involved all the characters of the book. I liked how everyone was intertwined. That was pretty cool.
When the hit-and-run case came to a close, and Randall discovered who it was, that was kinda dull. The guy who did it was very well known in town, and then he had a backstory for doing it. I thought his excuse for doing it was very dumb, because he wanted to protect someone, and he didn't know he was doing it, even though 2 people died. Really? The urban legends part was cool, though. I liked how Riddle described what was going on when the Lights struck the characters. Of course, I loved the epilogue. I like when books do a 'Ten years later' sort of thing.
I had a love/hate relationship with Randall and Kyle. As a father and son duo, you would expect them to be fighting crime together, side by side. But Randall has a lot of resentment for his son. A family accident years earlier has Randall blaming Kyle for a death that he couldn't have controlled. You can see Kyle trying to talk to his father, and I think they really bonded over the last hit-and-run case that occurred.
Overall, Dorris Bridge is good for readers who like mystery, family, and some sci-fi thrown in.
February 7, 2011
I really tired to like this book but I could not. While the book was well written, the plot just did not grab me. I had a hard time staying focused while reading a book.
It's hard to explain this book because it has so much going on. There are several points of views and lots of different stories that all come into one at the end. Since there was so much, I found myself going back and re-reading parts.The Urban legends were good. I like reading those, they had me intrigued.
The characters were unique and I like how the father and son duo got to know each other better and work with each other. For me it was just too much going. I think this is my first to say that this book is not for me.
It's hard to explain this book because it has so much going on. There are several points of views and lots of different stories that all come into one at the end. Since there was so much, I found myself going back and re-reading parts.The Urban legends were good. I like reading those, they had me intrigued.
The characters were unique and I like how the father and son duo got to know each other better and work with each other. For me it was just too much going. I think this is my first to say that this book is not for me.
January 13, 2011
Wow! Takes you back to a time when pulling pranks and having a little fun didn't land you in jail. Dorris Bridge is a must read for those who grew up with "local legends" and unexplained mysteries.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews