River Rising (Missouri, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dorothy Garlock (Author) "APRIL SAT IN THE CAR, her hands gripping the steering wheel, and peered at the muddy road ahead through the windshield of her Model T..." (more)
Key Phrases: harvest party, colored blood, new nurse, Miss Davenport, Miss Asbury, Joe Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Set in Depression-era Missouri, Garlock's latest novel picks up where The Edge of Town left off, once again presenting the down-home charm and familiar characters that have made her books so popular. April Asbury, a lovely young nurse, has just arrived in town when her car breaks down and she meets Joe Jones, a "natural-born flirt" who offers to help her. April is plucky, pretty and smart, and Joe soon finds himself falling for her, though he struggles to shed his playboy image. Meanwhile, the town doctor, Todd Forbes, wades into troublesome romantic territory when he falls for a woman of color, and Shirley, the wife of the late rapist Ron Poole, goes off the deep end after discovering her husband's sordid history. When a flood wreaks havoc on the town, things come to a head, and many get their comeuppance. Garlock weaves together the various tales with the down home folksiness she's known for, which includes plenty of corny similes ("He's about as reliable as snow on the Fourth of July") and exclamations such as "Shucks!" and "Bullfoot!" Of course, everything works out in the end, and there's a fair amount of sweaty sex thrown in along the way. But it's Garlock's characters that keep bringing readers back, and this book will not disappoint her many existing fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist
Garlock returns to Fertile, Missouri, 10 years after The Edge of Town (2001), when April Asbury arrives to work as Dr. Forbes' new nurse. Taking a room at Mrs. Poole's house, she feels uneasy, which is only right since the widowed Mrs. Poole and her brother are involved in creepy, secret activities. The attractive young nurse is besieged by admirers and viewed askance by the numerous ladies who have set their hats for the doctor. Garlock does a terrific job of showing the wholesome surface of life in the 1930s, while also depicting the ugly underbelly of the times, particularly in regard to racial issues and sexual mores. Setting the story against the rising of the river into a flood seems contrived, as does an overuse of period slang, but this doesn't detract from the focus on relationships among the many characters. And fans will be delighted to catch up with the growing Jones family, who were also seen in A Place Called Rainwater (2003) and High on a Hill (2002). Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446611719
• ISBN-13: 978-0446611718
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #415,620 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fine Americana tale, April 27, 2005

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: River Rising (Paperback)

April Asbury leaves a big city hospital where she worked as an emergency room nurse to work in the small town of Fertile as Dr. Forbes office nurse. On the surface Fertile seems like a serene little town where neighbor helps neighbor survive the Great Depression. She meets Joe Jones when her car breaks down forcing her to walk until she finds herself in a field with a bull. Joe rescues her and takes her into town where she rents a room at Mrs. Poole's and starts work in Dr. Forbes office.

She begins to sense that the postcard prettiness of the town masks secrets that people want kept hidden. Dr Forbes is in love with a woman most people would consider black and is not allowed to legally marry her. Mrs. Poole's brother Fred spies on April when she is naked in her room and Mrs. Poole is going through with a diabolical plan that could destroy innocent lives. April is afraid to give her heart to Joe because she thinks he is a flirt while Joe thinks April would not want to get involved with a poor farmer. When the river threatens to flood the town many secrets and feelings finally see the light of day.

Dorothy Garlock is the queen of Americana tales and RIVER RISING is a perfect example of her superior writing talent. The romance of April and Joe plays out against the manipulations and actions of the secondary cast who are drawn very realistically. There are multiple sub-plots that all tie to the main storyline that enables readers to feel what it was like in small Missouri town during the Great Depression.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 19, 2006

By	R. Justus "Garlock fan" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: River Rising (Paperback)

River Rising is an excellent book with great subplots. I couldn't put it down. Dorothy Garlock's stories are always so real and emotional.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue River Rising: Healing Undercurrents For "Green River Running Red.", April 19, 2006

By	Linda G. Shelnutt "Author" (Hotchkiss, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My attention was captured by the rural farmhouse art on the novel's cover, Dorothy Garlock's name, and the word "Americana" in reviews.

Been analyzing various types of mysteries and needed a relief from the clue focus. Was definitely refreshed returning to my old haunt of Early-American, 1930's romance. In that genre I live with the characters and plot in warm, family settings, yet I'm removed enough from the heavy work loads and financial horrors families shouldered in the depression era.

The prologue was a chilling, mesmerizing lead-in to the plot's contrast of emotionally heated grit around a good cast of strong, feisty characters weaving wit into wherewithal.

Say what?

Okay. Re-wording:

The prologue gave an accurate profile of a rapist, and the psychological response to the discovery of that profile (after 5 years grieving her husband's death) by a wife who had no clue to his dark side. The easy, quipping banter among characters in the ongoing plot gave a good contrast to the pain in the prologue.

I enjoyed the easy reading rhythm of slipping through a plot without the necessity of applying memory retention techniques to hold onto an intriguing horde of details, clues, and diversions. My recent reading tastes have been craving cozy culinary mysteries, with other genres and mainstream novels temporarily shoved off the back burner onto the floor behind the stove, where greasy dust bunnies abide and multiply. Even within a craving frenzy, though, one needs a break. This was mine.

How refreshing to live through the pages of a book with no underlying game-board beyond the simple elements of a good story. Not that simple stories are empty; with a balance of plot, characters, and setting, enough is most often enough. And, there is clearly thematic and psychological depth here.

I cheered the cunning contrast between the enduring country values of the Jones, and the un-elegant, empty ethics of a few snobs in town. It was refreshing to see redemptive evolutions of youth (Sammy) and of more mature characters (Jack). Of course the conflicts, tensions, and resolutions were predictable, as they're expected (desired) to be in this genre. If these anticipations are altered too dramatically, the drama sometimes descends into a literary category, and (for me) can too easily go sour in that miasma.

I was refreshed by the formulas met, yet literarily satisfied with this warm story's easing gently and sagely into and through difficult issues.

Surprisingly, the exposure (and healing) of a mild sexual perversion was artfully and tastefully done within this plot, edging the work almost into a literary gestalt, without leaving the appealing warmth of healthy romance

Loved the scene of peeping Fred snapping his backbone to stand up against bitter Shirley. Once backbone is acknowledged, perversion has an option to dissipate. What I enjoyed most in that first scene of Fred's spirit surge was that he accomplished this initial shift in his sibling relationship simply and gently. This situation occurred earlier in the story, giving characters the opportunity to begin healing dark tendencies, and the reader the regenerative benefits of "taking cues" from realistic character growth.

Woven naturally into the action were Lots of interesting bits of info for dealing with various types of emergencies, including medical. The fitting manner in which these "how to's" were delivered increased my involvement in the reading.