Crooked River
Valerie Geary
Morrow, Oct 14 2014, $25.99
ISBN: 9780062326591
Their parents separated almost a decade ago with
their mom staying in Eugene while their bee-keeper dad rusticated near
Terrebonne. Each August, the older
daughter Sam stayed with her dad Bear while the younger child Ollie remained
home with their mom.
In 1988, without any warning their mom died. The grieving sisters, fifteen years old Sam
and ten years old Ollie, move in with Bear, but the tweener has been mute since
the tragedy occurred. As the siblings
struggle differently with their loss, they find a dead woman floating in the
nearby Crooked River. Sam tries to pull
her ashore, but fails. She obsesses over
the death as she fears the law will come after Bear and consequently end her
family; so Sam desperately tries to identify who murdered the woman in the
river. Meanwhile silent Ollie sees the
Shimmering haunting her that no one else notices.
This is a mesmerizing coming of age supernatural whodunit
starring two wonderful sisters struggling with death, change and a bone marrow foreboding
trepidation more ugliness is coming to haunt them. Except for Bear (especially his lack of
parenting skills) and the mysterious Shimmering, the support cast comes across
as eccentric over the top of Smith Rock.
The amateur sleuthing adventures of Sam and the wonder of whether the
Shimmering are a grieving frightened tweener’s psychological crutch or really
stalking her make for a fine family drama.
Harriet Klausner
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