River Ghosts- B.D. Robb

River Ghosts
B.D. Robb
Five Star, May 2008, $25.95
ISBN 9781594146541

In Red River Falls, terrified racially mixed eight year old Richard Hill hides under his family’s kitchen table as he sees teenage Henry Clayton rape and kill the child’s white mother. The preadolescent knows he will be haunted forever with the swastika tattoo that Richard proudly displayed. Henry is convicted of the rape-murder while Richard’s black father tries to help his son move past the hate crime.

Sixteen years later newly discovered DNA evidence exonerates Henry. The Illinois governor pardons him and he is released from prison. Now a Red River Falls police officer, Richard believes the so-called new proof is a fake as he witnessed Henry rape and kill his mom. When an elderly gay man is murdered, the circumstantial evidence points towards a white supremacist friend of Henry as the killer. Richard and his squad car partner believe Henry is involved, but have to find concrete evidence to validate their theory in court.

The adversarial relationship between Henry and Richard make for an exhilerating character driven thriller. The same event has turned both men into obsessive individuals although Henry already had a cause before the rape murder of Richard’s mom. Readers will appreciate this strong look at two foes; one a homegrown terrorist using race as his cause while the other became a cop in homage to his mom as he needs to insure victims see justice occur starting with himself.

Harriet Klausner