River King - Softcover

The four outsiders at the novel's heart are brought together by the dramatic forces of love and death: two new students, Gus, a rebellious, hapless loner; Carlin, a beautiful swimmer from Florida; Betsy, the unconventional photography teacher trapped in a conventional engagement, and Abel, the local cop who comes to the school to investigate a drowning. After a tragic flood, the novel picks up pace and switches from gothic horror to detective story with hints of The X Files. A ghost appears in Betsy's photos and leaves mementoes from the river all around the school. When the drowned corpse is found to have faecal matter in its lungs in a cleaned-up river, the plot takes on echoes of Chinatown and is no less riveting for that.

Although Hoffman misses some of the menace and narrative drive of a true thriller, her portrait of a secluded world, which has developed its own secrets, rules and inability to confront evil, weaves a murky and disturbing spell. --Cherry Smyth

"Rewarding...a novel not to be missed."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Set in and around an exclusive private school in fictional Haddan, Mass., bestselling author Hoffman's latest novel flows as swiftly and limpidly as the Haddan River, the town's mystical waterway...As ever, Hoffman mixes myth, magic and reality, addressing issues of town and gown, enchanting her readers with a many-layered morality tale and proving herself once again an inventive author with a distinctive touch."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Suspenseful and engrossing."--Denver Rocky Mountain News

"It can be hard to find an example of good old-fashioned storytelling these days, but storytelling, refreshingly, is Alice Hoffman's strength...The River King is full of wonderfully and satisfyingly odd twists and turns."--The New York Times Book Review