At the River by Kendra Elliot Book Review

About the Book:

Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest.

After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death. With the discovery, Devin’s nightmares return. His only real friend is Ollie Smith, Truman’s orphaned ward, whose own search for the truth sucks Ollie into a mystery far greater and more dangerous than anyone imagined.

Following a trail of fresh blood and an escalating series of murders, Mercy and Truman must work fast to unlock whatever traumas are buried in Devin’s memories before the secrets of the past claim another victim.

My Review:

This is a good continuation to the series. The characters are what make this novel entertaining to read. Truman is a competent police chief of a small community and Mercy an FBI agent. These novels have continued the personal lives of Truman and Mercy with much about Ollie in this one. The mystery plot combined the investigation of a twenty year old murder and a current one very similar. I liked all the investigative procedure. I am not sure, however, that in the end the plot worked out well. It just seemed unreasonable to me.

I like mysteries that take place in the Pacific Northwest with this one being in the central Oregon area. Eliot's writing style is clear and the action moves along at a relatively good pace. I have become invested in the lives of the characters and will be watching for the next in the series.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

You can read my review of an earlier book in the series: In the Pines.

About the Author:

Kendra Elliot has landed on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list multiple times and is the award-winning author of the Bone Secrets and Callahan & McLane series, the Mercy Kilpatrick novels, and the Columbia River novels. She’s a three-time winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award, an International Thriller Writers Award finalist, and an RT Award finalist. She has always been a voracious reader, cutting her teeth on classic female heroines such as Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Laura Ingalls. She was born and raised in the rainy Pacific Northwest but now lives in flip-flops in Florida. Visit her at www.kendraelliot.com.

Montlake, 380 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)