Crooked River
Where should I start? With Mom's funeral? Or a week earlier on the Fourth of July, the day she died? Or should I skip all that stuff and get straight to the part where Ollie and I just wanted to go swimming and pretend our lives were ordinary again, but when we got down to the river we found another dead woman instead?
Still grieving over the sudden death of their mother, fifteen-year-old Sam McAlister and her ten-year-old sister, Ollie, move from the comforts of Eugene to rural Oregon to live in a meadow in a teepee under the stars with Bear, their reclusive beekeeper father. But soon after they arrive in Terrebone, a young woman is found dead floating in Crooked River and the police arrest their eccentric father for the murder.
He is not evil. I am not good.
We are the same: broken and put back together again.
Sam knows that Bear is not a killer, even though the evidence points to his guilt—including information that she and Ollie have uncovered. Filled with remorse and refusing to accept that her father could have hurt anyone, Sam embarks on a desperate hunt to save him and keep her damaged family together. They had mysteriously lost Bear once before and Sam is terrified they will lose him again. Only this time they won't ever get him back. She needs Ollie to help her, but Ollie has not spoken a word since their mother's death.
I see things no one else does.
I see them there and wish I didn't. I want to tell and I can't.
Ollie, too, knows that Bear is innocent. The Shimmering have told her so. One followed her home from her mom's funeral and continues to hover, a spectrum of colors—pink and rose red, sky blue and honey gold. Now another, coiled and hissing, is following Sam. Both spirits warn Ollie: the real killer is out there, waiting. Somehow, she must warn her sister. But Ollie worries that if she tries to speak—even to write—the Shimmering will slip inside her, take control, and never leave.
Sam and Ollie must find the truth quickly—a search that will lead them to unexpected secrets and terrible lies—because the danger is closer to them than either girl knows.
Told in Sam's and Ollie's vibrant voices, Crooked River is a family story, a coming-of-age story, a ghost story, and a psychological mystery as haunting as the best Southern Gothic fiction that will touch your heart and grip you until the final page.
MY REVIEW: Unique, and completely engaging, "Crooked River" is a wonderful debut work from author Valerie Geary. Told in the alternating voices of two sisters, fifteen-year old Sam and ten-year old Ollie, this is a mystery, a family drama, and so much more. An involving story line and compelling characters combined with beautifully descriptive writing will hold readers enthralled until the last page is turned. While Sam and Ollie's parents loved each other, they couldn't live together. The children lived with their mother in Eugene, Oregon while their father, Bear, settled in rural Oregon, living in a teepee and working as a beekeeper. He rented the land from good people, Zeb and Franny, whose friendship was like family to Bear and his daughters. Every summer, Sam would come to stay with her father. When Ollie was old enough to spend the summer, she chose instead to go to camp with her friends. Things changed forever when the girls' mother suddenly died from a heart attack and they were sent to live with their father on a trial basis. If things didn't work out, the girls would find a permanent home with their mother's parents. Adjusting to the new arrangement is somewhat of a challenge, especially for Ollie, who has not spoken since her mother's death. While Ollie may not be talking, she still sees plenty--including ghostly beings called "Shimmerings" who speak to her. One day, the sisters find the body of a dead woman floating in Crooked River. Sam tries to catch hold of the woman's body, but the river, swollen by rain and melting snow carries her away. When circumstantial evidence implicates Bear in death, the girls decide to keep their discovery a secret. However, Bear is arrested for the murder, and the girls must fight for their father's innocence and for the future of their family. "Crooked River" is a recommended reader's treat, and I look forward to more work from the talented Valerie Geary.
Book Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
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