The Night The River Wept: A Novel by Lo Patrick
Product details
Web ID: 18453290It had a lot of promise!
Arlene and Tommy are childhood sweethearts, after she suffers from a miscarriage and he’s annoying her and she needs to get out of the house. Arlene’s employed by the local police department and her job is to bag evidence, this doesn’t take her long and she starts looking at old cold case files. Twenty years ago three young brothers were murdered on the banks of Deck River, two weeks later the main suspect Mitchell Wright, committed suicide. Arlene is intrigued by the case, the receptionist at the police department Ronna was a friend of the Wrights and they appeared to be the picture perfect family. How did their teenage son, who had a promising future end up being responsible for Cedar, Colton and Chase Broderick’ deaths and she discovers their older sister Claire was dating Mitchell at the time and they had a baby together. I have read and enjoyed Lo Patrick's previous book, The Floating Girls, the premise for her latest novel sounded promising and I was invested at the start and unfortunately I lost interest in the narrative quickly. The death of three little boys is heartbreaking and so is having a miscarriage, finding out who killed them is a serious topic and Arlene’s character didn’t meet my expectations and don’t get me started on her reasons for trying. The idea for the story is a great one, I felt the main characters let it down, and the narrative is full of hidden secrets and lies, and how people judged others from the wrong side of town and three stars from me and read the book for yourself and make up your own mind about this one!
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Haunting yet witty!
The author of the acclaimed debut, The Floating Girls, Lo Patrick, returns with her latest novel, THE NIGHT THE RIVER WEPT, another gripping, haunting Southern tale of heartache, trauma, crime, tragedy, wit, and dark secrets from past to present in this story of good versus evil in a small rural North Georgia town. About... How do three little boys get murdered in the middle of the evening right after Thanksgiving and then nothing is done about it for nearly two decades? Faber prided itself on its sense of community—a responsibility that was completely ignored. PRESENT: Arlene is married to high school sweetheart Tommy and has lived in a small Georgia town her entire life. She wants more than anything to start a family and be a mother, but that has not worked out. She blames herself for her miscarriage. PAST: Cedar, Colton, and Chase Broderick (brothers) died in November of 1983 on the edge of Deck River. Three innocent boys. Someone took their lives. They were suffocated. Who was the real murderer, and what was the motive? They thought the murderer was the one who committed suicide. But is the real murderer still living among them? Who helped cover it up? It did not start with the murder or the memory of them, but it began with Arlene's miscarriage. The loss of her baby and the tragic murder of the Brodericks are intertwined in her mind, leading to a deep sense of unhappiness and guilt. She drives to the police department and tells them she wants to be a detective. (sure, sign her up)? The next day, the Captain of the Faber Police Department called, looked over her application, and offered her a part-time job tagging evidence. It does not take her long before she starts looking into cold cases. Twenty years earlier, three young brothers were murdered on the banks of Deck River; two weeks later, the main suspect, Mitchell Wright, committed suicide. Arlene is intrigued by the case. The police department receptionist, Ronna, was a friend of the Wrights, and they appeared to be the picture-perfect family. She wants to make sense of things. In the meantime, Arlene and Tommy do not get along. They constantly bicker back and forth. He drinks too much. Arlene is bored. He is supposed to be a high-powered real estate guy with his wife working for minimum wage at a local lockup (or so he says) that he thinks is nuts. He gets on Arlene's last nerve. It is funny that Tommy thinks he is a big real estate tycoon when he is in commercial real estate selling strip space to a tire company and is embarrassed that his wife is working at a local lock-up making minimum wage. Arlene definitely puts him in his place, and in the end, they respect one another. He is more interested in golf, homes, society, and the right people, and Arlene is after a career, motherhood, or something to make her feel important and wants to be a detective. But in the end, after all is said and done, she finds her path. Told from Arlene's POV, Natalie Wright's Journal entries from 1982-1984 (including removed pages from journal), and a condemned man (a sicko murderer, disturbing and unsettling), the narrative style of the book is as intriguing as the story itself. The ongoing mystery revolves around the murderer's identity and all those who played a part in the coverup. Will there finally be justice for the boys? Natalie's journal entries are an essential key to solving the case. My thoughts... It is quite a challenging task to review a book with such a rich emotional tapestry with many conflicting emotions. The present is filled with humor, snark, and witty banter, particularly between Arlene, Tommy, and the women, which can be quite entertaining. However, the past storyline, with its heart-wrenching murder and the surrounding mystery, is haunting, serious, heavy, dark, disturbing, and deeply unsettling. The book's direction is conflicting, a puzzle, and deciphering it is part of the reader's journey. This one will receive many different reviews and discussions, which would probably make it a good book club choice. QUESTION: Is it a murder mystery, domestic suspense, literary, sleuth-detective mystery, historical narrative, Southern fiction, a coming-of-age story, a humor-filled family drama, or a satire? The book's genre is a delightful mystery in itself, keeping readers guessing and engaged. It blends drama, dysfunction, bleakness, darkness, and wit, making it a unique and intriguing read. But are you supposed to laugh or cry? There are very mixed signals and the overall tone of the book that will have trying to determine its direction. While I sympathized with the struggles of the town and the poor uneducated families, the heartbreak, its characters, the poverty, the abuse, neglect, their dead-end lives, deaths, secrets, mental illness, and their losses, I think I enjoyed the murder historical part more than the present contemporary which overshadowed the murder mystery which should have been the main focus in my opinion. This could have been a brilliant murder mystery, but the present-day back-bickering (about useless things) and dark humor did not fit with the overall theme. Maybe I read too many detective cop procedurals, and this one did not measure up there. It seemed disjointed and other reviewers have commented on this, with which I tend to agree. The book delves into the lives of the 'haves' and 'have nots', those from the wrong side of town. It's a narrative filled with judgments, speculations, jealousy, mistrust, lies, and SECRETS in a small rural town, making for a compelling but questionable read. Maybe because these ladies are not professional detectives but amateur sleuths (at best) which leaves you shaking your head at some of the things they do and think. Not by the book of course. Most books today, when looking at cold cases, involve a podcast, blog, social media, or sharp new detectives with new DNA. However, here we rely on two women with no education or credentials to be detectives or sleuths without proper evidence or protocols. Not their roles; however, they are tenacious and get the end result, but in a very untraditional way. Most definitely, not professional and by the book. So I would not take the investigation too seriously. They are impulsive and fly by the seat of their pants with no backup. We are talking about a receptionist and an evidence bag tagger. How did they have enough time to be off sleuthing all the time? There is a lot of jealousy, bickering, lies, betrayal, and protecting one another. Then you have Alaina in the mix, further complicating the trio. Or did the writer portray the actual people who see things differently than the norm? Arlene's obsession with the murders gave her purpose when she had nothing else eventful in her personal life. She wants to be a detective and make a name for herself, and all her husband, Tommy, wants is to attend dinner parties, golf, drink, connection, and mingle with the right people in upscale neighborhoods and pools. What is hilarious is that Tommy thinks Arlene is cheating on him with the women in her detective's club. Arlene is quite naive at times for someone of her age. These women seemed like teens or younger. In the end, on her road to self-discovery, she learned something about herself and her marriage. Overall, THE NIGHT THE RIVER WEPT is a haunting dark story of rural Georgia, gloom, sadness, and murder. However, the author cleverly uses the dialect of her characters for humor to balance the darkness. These small-town folks are a tangled mess—almost a poor rural version of Big Little Lies. You may reach a different conclusion after reading. I urge you to read and draw your own. Can you ever escape your past? PS There are several trigger warnings. I cannot think of any other book to compare this to. I have never read anything quite like it. #JDCMustReadBooks
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
very highly recommended small town murder mystery
The Night the River Wept by Lo Patrick is a very highly recommended small town Southern murder mystery with a very unlikely investigator. Arlene, 24, is married to her high school sweetheart, Tommy, and longs to be a mother. The two live in Faber, a small town in Georgia, where Tommy, is in commercial real estate, but does well enough that he is often called a real estate tycoon in town. Tommy loves Arlene and wants the best for her but he also has a drinking problem. After a miscarriage she needs to find a way to keep busy so she applies for a job at the police station and is offered a part time position bagging evidence. Since the job only takes about 20 minutes of work a day, Arlene begins to read the old case files. One case in particular, the murder of three young brothers on Deck River, an area populated by those with little hope, captures her attention. The murder was followed by the suicide of the main suspect, Mitchell Wright. Arlene gets permission to look into the case and soon believes she could solve the case. Tommy is getting on her nerves with his drinking anyway and the cold case becomes an obsession. She sets out to discover the truth with help from Allaina, who was on the police force at that time, and Ronna, the police department's receptionist. I really enjoyed The Night the River Wept and I realize I'm a bit of an outlier in how much I enjoyed it. It is a beautifully written novel and captures both a unique, charming Southern setting as the characters deal with personal struggles,loss, growth and redemption while uncovering the truth. The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of Arlene, diary entries written by Mitchell's sister, and the murderer. Arlene is the main, dominant voice. I appreciated the humorous dialog and observations throughout the novel. The bulk of the novel is full of grim insightful and poignant moments in the narrative, but interspersed are gems that left me laughing several times while reading. Patrick captured the dialect of her characters in the dialogue and I could hear them talking as I read. And the stories... like the daughter who left the lineman she was married to, which disappointed her mother because she is a Glen Campbell fan. Arlene is certainly a flawed character, but, bless her heart, I like her. She's young and she's blaming herself for her miscarriage. Her dream of being a mother has been shattered and seems unobtainable. Arlene is insecure and searching for an adult role model/friend. It is funny and a bit heartbreaking when she attaches herself to Ronna, a woman who has her own issues, and closely follows her behavior in an attempt to be an adult. This includes bringing leftover meatloaf for lunch. She's also dealing with a husband who's frequently drunk by noon. Looking into the cold case gives her a purpose and confidence in herself. The novel is populated with unique, memorable characters. Arlene is earnest in her role as detective as she looks into the cold case. The investigation into the murder mystery is serious. The small town never really dug deep and tried to truly solve the case. People kept secrets.Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com