Review: The River

The River by Peter Heller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Heller’s “The Dog Stars”. I found the end-of-the-world story compelling and the writing and characters memorable. When I saw this one pop up on the library’s Overdrive service, I hoped that Heller could maintain the depth of writing despite not having that creepy end-of-worlder storyline. I think he succeeded. But what surprised me was that the storyline, while about canoeing in the wilds of Canada, covered characters and a story somewhat similar to “The Dog Stars”. The canoeists are mostly alone, and dealing with life and death situations requiring quick thinking and the use of deadly force. A study of character. The story can at points get too involved. But the book is quite short, and the ending was shorter, and quite a bit different, than I expected.

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