Adam Chase left his hometown in North Carolina and moved to New York five years ago. Accused of murder, he was acquitted of the crime, but could no longer stay where townspeople and even family members regarded him with suspicion.
After a phone call from childhood friend Danny Faith, Adam returns to Salisbury, for reasons he's not completely sure of. Danny has vanished, however, and Adam is almost immediately drawn into a fight. Everywhere he turns, dark memories haunt him, and even Robin, the woman he loved, is distant. Then Grace Shepherd, who'd been like a little sister to Adam, is savagely beaten after being seen arguing with him. Adam not only wants to clear his name, but to make sure the attacker pays for what he did. As he and Robin, now a police detective, begin to investigate, secrets from the past start to surface. When Adam discovers Danny's body, he realizes that someone is willing to kill to keep those secrets buried.
This book works on many levels: it's a great thriller, an intriguing mystery and a tense family drama. Every person seems to have a closet full of skeletons, and although Adam was innocent of murder, he's certainly no angel. Emotional tension pervades every page, punctuated by outbursts of violence. The book has a "noir" feel, with a protagonist struggling with his inner demons and people who are rarely what they appear to be at first glance. John Hart takes readers on a dark, twisted journey, and I was fascinated every step of the way.
Everything that shaped him happened near that riverβ¦.Now its banks are filled with lies and greed, shame, and murderβ¦. John Hartβs debut, The King of Lies, was compelling and lyrical, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times declaring, βThere hasnβt been a thriller as showily literate since Scott Turow came along.β Now, in Down River, Hart makes a scorching return to Rowan County, where he drives his characters to the edge, explores the dark side of human nature, and questions the fundamental power of forgiveness.
Adam Chase has a violent streak, and not without reason. As a boy, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred thin. The trauma left him passionate and misunderstood---a fighter. After being narrowly acquitted of a murder charge, Adam is hounded out of the only home heβs ever known, exiled for a sin he did not commit. For five long years he disappears, fades into the faceless gray of New York City. Now heβs back and nobody knows why, not his family or the cops, not the enemies he left behind.
But Adam has his reasons.
Within hours of his return, he is beaten and accosted, confronted by his family and the women he still holds dear. No one knows what to make of Adamβs return, but when bodies start turning up, the small town rises against him and Adam again finds himself embroiled in the fight of his life, not just to prove his own innocence, but to reclaim the only life heβs ever wanted.
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