Customer Reviews

Down River (Thorndike Core)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
Lisa and Mitch were attorneys working for the same law firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They fell in love and were engaged. Then Mitch decided to leave the law practice and move to Alaska to run a lodge/resort which he recently inherited. Lisa did not want to go and broke up with him. This book starts one year later. The senior partner in the law firm is deciding which of three candidates to promote to senior partner. Lisa is one of them. He books a trip to Mitch's resort for the three junior partners plus himself and his wife. He wants to see them doing challenging outdoor activities before making up his mind. Someone pushes Lisa into the river rapids. She almost dies but Mitch rescues her. She and Mitch decide not to tell anyone she was pushed until they can figure out who did it and why. The rest of the story is about the group's activities and some more bad things happening while Mitch and Lisa attempt to uncover the culprit.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This is classified as romantic suspense, but the romance is not very much and is not typical for romance novels. We don't get to see a couple meeting and developing a relationship. This story starts with a couple who broke up. During the story, they slowly reconnect while trying to solve a mystery and avoid being killed. This is primarily a mystery suspense story. There are no sex scenes which is unusual for contemporary writing labeled romantic suspense.

The first half was above average, but I had some problems with the plot and events during the second half. Three things bothered me.

Someone cut a leather line. We never learned who did it or how they did it without being seen. A group watched as someone set up the sleds and lines. A few minutes later the race started. Someone would have had to cut the line in front of the group during that couple of minutes. That was never answered.

Someone has been trying to kill Lisa. Yet she does two things that make it easy for the killer to attempt killing her again. As she is doing those two things I'm shaking my head saying that is stupid. I would never have done those things, being alone and/or putting myself at risk in those ways. Those two things hurt the story the most. I was also annoyed that Lisa and Mitch did not inform the sheriff or let him help them investigate. The results were obstructing an investigation, delaying it's start, and withholding evidence. That too was stupid.

I also did not like the way the author made it so easy for the killer. Each attack was based on convenient opportunity, not planning. The killer would see someone alone and then attack. Yet to everyone else it looked like an accident or self inflicted. How convenient for the killer. I would think most killers have to carefully plan to get that result as well as being lucky. They don't just happen to see multiple opportunities to do this and get away with it each time. I need a little more realism.

DATA:
Story length: 380 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: none. Setting: current day Talkeetna and a small rural town in Alaska, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Copyright: 2010. Genre: mystery suspense with minimal romance.

The teambuilding event planned by Carlisle, Bonner & Associates at the Duck Lake Lodge near Bear Bones, Alaska could prove divisive as managing partner Graham Bonner will use the off site to choose the next senior partner. One of the three attorneys in the running for a senior slot is Lisa Vaughn, who feels strongly this is not a good way to select. She also has bigger personal issues with the location chosen by top management that overlooks the Wild River where her mom and baby sister drowned twenty-six years ago and the lodge is owned by Mitch Baxter, her former fiancé who dropped her last year when he relocated from Fort Lauderdale.

Lisa falls into the Wild River with its strong rapids. Mitch knows something is wrong and follows her by kayak until he jumps in to complete the rescue. The powerful current had carried the pair several miles from his lodge, but they survive the water. As they struggle with the ordeal of getting back to the lodge, Lisa believes someone deliberately nudged her into the icy water. Though Mitch initially leans towards her accidentally tripping; he soon believes his Lisa is in peril from an unknown adversary who will try anything to kill her, but neither know why.

Down River is an exhilarating romantic suspense thriller as the audience wonders along with the heroine why this location and who wants her dead. Faster than the raging Wild River and yet filled with vivid descriptions of the Talkeetna Mountains, readers will feel transported to the home of Sarah Palin. Karen Harper provides a powerful who is doing it and why that sub-genre fans appreciate.

Harriet Klausner

this book is not very good. it is very repetive and boring . her books are usually good.

I have enjoyed all of Karen Harper's book but this was the one I just couldn't put down. Seeing Alaska through her eyes was great fun and the plot keeps you going to the very end.

Great writting by Karen Harper. As usual she never disappoints. Great suspense, romance & thrilling. Keeps you on the edge of your seat & wanting to keep reading. Loved It!

Very exciting and riveting, keeping you on your toes. It is also a good read because of the setting in Alaska and some of the descriptions. A good "cast of characters".

I have read other books by Karen Harper with a great deal of enjoyment, such as The Falls, Inferno and especially her fiction concerning Amish life, including Down to the Bone and Dark Angel.

"Down River" is very shallow as far as plot and characterization are concerned. I didn't get any real "feel" for the romantic protaganists in this novel. There just didn't seem to be any substance in their relationship. The only character I was able to visualize at all was a secondary one named Christine. I would have much rather read her entire story. There was a lot of repetition and filler in the novel and a very weak plot line.

I will continue to read Harper. I guess everyone has a "bad day" and as I wrote earlier, I have really enjoyed other books of hers. This one I wouldn't recommend, though, unless you are totally desperate for reading material.

This is an excellent story. I have read several of Karen Harper's books and enjoyed them all. I have always been interested in stories written about Alaska so that was an added benefit, to hear how people live together in such an unspoiled area.

I was very impressed my book came within 5 days and was in great shape.

YEARS AGO WHEN I READ MY FIRST KAREN HARPER BOOK ABOUT THE HORSE AND BUGGY HIT AND RUN OF AMISH TEENAGERS, I HAVE BEEN ADDICTED TO KAREN HARPERS BOOKS. DOWN RIVER IS NO DIFFERENT. IF YOU WANT MURDER LOVE AND WHODUNNIT MAKE SURE YOU READ DOWN RIVER. I WAS ROOTING FOR MITCH AND LISA EVEN BEFORE MITCH RESCUED LISA AFTER BEING PUSHED INTO THAT RIVER. NOT ONLY DOES HARPER PRODUCE A WONDERFUL LOVE STORY WITH MURDER AND MAYHEM SHE ALSO GIVES YOU A WONDERFUL BIRDS EYE VIEW OF ALASKA. HARPER WILL ALWAYS BE A MUST READ WITH ME. I KNOW AMAZON. COM WILL HAVE ALL KAREN HARPER BOOKS.
TE LATHAM