8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
...a rare gem in the suspense genre, paying as much attention to character development as to plot twists., February 13, 2009
This review is from: The Rivers Run Dry: A Raliegh Harmon Novel (Paperback)
After writing a noteworthy debut, a sophomore novel can be an author's bane. The pressure of the follow-up can cause writers to try too hard, and that much anticipated second book sometimes ends up a flop. Or worse, the author freezes with fear, and as in the case of masters Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell and Emily Bronte, never publishes again.
Sibella Giorello's first book The Stones Cry Out placed her on our radar. It won a Christy award for 1st novel and introduced us to an author whose storytelling ability and knack for description caused me to call the book "one of 2007's most compelling novels". Needless to say, Giorello had a lot to live up to in The Rivers Run Dry. Would Raleigh Harmon remain the interesting, three-dimensional character we'd come to love?
Instead of a sophomore slump for Sibella Giorello, The Rivers Run Dry stands head and shoulders above The Stones Cry Out. It's richer, deeper, funnier. Raleigh has just been transferred to the Violent Crimes unit of the Seattle field office, and she's brought her mother with her. They've both moved in with eccentric Aunt Charlotte whose attempts to help Raleigh with her cases provide many of the book's lighter moments.
Nineteen-year-old Courtney VanAlstyne is missing. Her very rich parents think she's been kidnapped and since the local police are skittish of lawsuits, they've called in the FBI for technical backup. Raleigh expects to do nothing more than collect soil from the wheel wells of Courtney's abandoned Land Rover, make prints of the tire treads, and file the paperwork. But she can't help but dig deeper. A compulsive gambler, a high-stakes poker game, and VanAlstyne secrets quickly confirm this case is much more complex than first meets the eye. Will they find Courtney before it's too late?
The Rivers Run Dry is a rare gem in the suspense genre, paying as much attention to character development as to plot twists. Even minor characters are created with Giorello's trademark attention to detail. Take her description of a park ranger from chapter one: "I turned to see a small woman walking toward us, looking like an elf purged from a fairy tale. Her long red hair leaped over her shoulders in ropes of lava and her enormous black boots scuffed across the loose gravel shards on the ground, creating the sound of belligerent applause."
Raleigh is a woman who's trained to keep her wits about her, but she's not strong to a fault like some female leads. She isn't afraid to call for backup when needed, and she finds herself in more than one scrape due to her react-first-ask-for-clearance-later tendencies.
If you enjoyed the insider angle of Richmond, VA in Stones, you'll agree Giorello's portrayal of Seattle and its surroundings in Rivers is up to par. Clearly she knows of what she writes. Pull up a Google map, and you'll discover all the locations are real.
One or two Deus ex Machina moments seemed a bit convenient, especially in light of Raleigh's mantra of "not believing in luck". But as Raleigh's father used to say, "there are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe in coincidence, and those who have the courage to recognize God." Perhaps the serendipity was Giorello's way of showing us providence in everyday life.
There are several other welcome spiritual insights in Rivers that add depth and meaning, setting this novel apart from its secular counterparts. One passage on God's adoptive love choked me up. And since Raleigh is a Christian, she sees the world through that lense.
From the inside of a hot FBI surveillance van to the craggy hiking trails of Cougar mountain, The Rivers Run Dry is character driven suspense at its finest. Layered with prowess, each revelation unfolds in perfect time to keep us guessing all the way to the final pages. Don't be surprised if you finish the novel one day, then pick it up and read it over again the next.
--Reviewed by C.J. Darlington for TitleTrakk
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally! Yes, yes, yes!, March 29, 2009
This review is from: The Rivers Run Dry: A Raliegh Harmon Novel (Paperback)
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What a wonderful reading experience this book was for me. A heroine I can respect and believe in, how refreshing! Special Agent Raleigh Harmon of the FBI does her job in the way a professional law enforcement officer would do it. She is personable, she is a loving daughter, she is dedicated to her job, she isn't perfect, she isn't a super hero and most of all, she isn't obnoxious! What a delight for me to find an author who imbues her characters with realistic personalities. Who presents a crime investigation from a realistic perspective. Who hides the criminal in such a realistic manner that it makes it extremely difficult to figure this mystery out. Did you happen to notice the use of the word "realistic" three times in those previous sentences? I certainly hope so because that is the basic reason I enjoyed this novel so much.
Raleigh has been reassigned to the Seattle, Washington field office of the FBI in a disciplinary transfer from the Richmond, Virginia office. She had expected that she would suffer some hazing at her new posting and she was right. The car she has been assigned is a 1997 Buick Skylark which she immediately dubs the Barney Mobile because of its peculiar purple color. It also didn't escape her notice that her official parking spot is located 15 blocks from the office building where she works. Even so, Raleigh is determined that she will do her job to the very best of her ability, even if she is given the most boring jobs possible. What starts out as an inquiry into a possible missing person quickly becomes a danger filled investigation.
Sibella Giorello has written a suspense filled novel that gives readers as much of a realistic look inside the workings of the FBI as we are likely to get without being on the payroll. All of her characters are vibrant, alive people who have vital, necessary parts to play in this story. Her descriptions of the forensics techniques used to aid in the crime solving seem completely reasonable to someone such as myself who has no firsthand knowledge of how that testing is actually carried out. The situations Raleigh finds herself in, the dangers she faces, ring perfectly true without making her appear to be a superwoman. Raleigh doesn't always do everything right, she doesn't always come out on top of every situation, but I was left feeling that she had reacted as a normal human person would have reacted. And, on top of all of this, not once did this author resort to profanity or obscenity. I was simply amazed.
Finally, yes, yes, yes! An author who has given me an intelligent, nice, hardworking, dedicated, modern woman as a heroine without resorting to sensationalism in the forms of profanity and explicit sensuality. I had no idea this book was published by the Thomas Nelson company. That would not have stopped me from reading the book but now that I know that information it does answer the questions of why the book is written to different standards and why there are many references to faith and religious belief in the book. It is a well written mystery story which just happens to have a character with sincerely held religious beliefs. There is no "preachiness" to the book but there is also no attempt made to hide the fact that faith plays a part in the makeup of the main character.
Highly recommended as an excellent reading experience. Please don't pass up the opportunity to read this book because of the religious beliefs expressed in the novel. They are very gently and naturally done and do not interfeer with the telling of the story in any way. There are questions in the back of the book which could be used for reading groups. I also enjoyed reading the Acknowledgements. There is a wealth of information there concerning where Ms Giorello obtained her "insider" facts. The first book in this series is "The Stones Cry Out". Book number three, "The Clouds Roll Away", is scheduled for release in Spring of 2010. Now I can go find book one to read and eagerly await book three.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
All in all a good book, April 5, 2009
This review is from: The Rivers Run Dry: A Raliegh Harmon Novel (Paperback)
The River Runs Dry was a book that allowed me to paint the picture of the scenes in my mind as I was reading it. Sibello Giorello paid very close attention to detail while writing this novel. At times I felt as I was right there. I had a hard time putting down the book because I wanted to know what was going to happen, and when I thought I had it all figured I was thrown for a loop and craved to know how this book was going to end.
I immediately found myself very fond of Special Agent Raleigh Harmon, she doesn't do well with bureacracy, she breaks a few rules and you can tell she is not much of a people person I felt myself being able to relate to her. But then some of the characters I felt were lacking and where mainly there for background noise, I wanted to get to know Jack Stephansen more, he was there but I just couldn't grab who he actually was exactly.
Overall this was a great book, it was hard to put down, I think anyone who likes mystery and suspense books will enjoy this novel as long as they don't mind some characters lacking in identity.
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