Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Dark River Rising
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://rogerjohnsbooks.com/
CITY:
STATE: GA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2017/08/qa-with-roger-johns-author-of-dark-river-rising-comment-sweepstakes
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2017033669 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017033669 |
| HEADING: | Johns, Roger |
| 000 | 00548nz a2200121n 450 |
| 001 | 10476212 |
| 005 | 20170609131233.0 |
| 008 | 170609n| azannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2017033669 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |e rda |c DLC |
| 053 | _0 |a PS3610.O295 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Johns, Roger |
| 670 | __ |a Dark river rising, 2017: |b ECIP t.p. (Roger Johns) data view (a former corporate lawyer and college professor with law degrees from Louisiana State University and Boston University; born and raised in Louisiana; he and his wife live in Georgia; Dark river rising is his first novel) |
PERSONAL
Born in LA; married; wife’s name Julie.
EDUCATION:Received degrees from Boston University and Louisiana State University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Worked previously as a college professor and corporate lawyer.
MEMBER:Sisters in Crime, Atlanta Writers Club, Mystery Writers of America, Georgia Romance Writers, International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Prior to launching his professional career, Roger Johns attended Boston University and Louisiana State University. He has worked in both academia and law, and previously published writing on a scholarly basis. He is affiliated with numerous fiction writing organizations, including Sisters in Crime, Atlanta Writers Club, Mystery Writers of America, Georgia Romance Writers, and others.
Dark River Rising serves as Johns’s literary debut. The book follows protagonist Wallace Hartman, a police investigator who finds herself tasked with getting to the bottom of two seemingly unrelated crimes all at once. The first involves a known drug pusher who turns up deceased in the most unusual fashion; buried in his stomach is a snake, still moving and very much alive. While the concept of a drug dealer being murdered isn’t foreign, Hartman can’t figure out why the crime was executed through this particular method. To help her in solving the crime comes a member of the deputy’s office by the name of Mason Cunningham, who has traveled all the way from Washington, DC to catch a glimpse of this case for himself. The two wind up working together to try and crack the mystery, only to wind up stumbling upon another once a lab worker disappears without any sudden trace. Certain details provided to the pair point to foul play, especially as further events unfold, each of them escalating in their danger. As Cunningham and Hartman continue working together, they uncover clues and connections that point to much shadier dealings within Baton Rouge’s drug culture.
A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked: “Johns’ first novel is an exciting police procedural rolled into a romantic thriller that hints of more to come.” New York Journal of Books reviewer Toni V. Sweeney wrote: “All in all, Dark River Rising is a dark police procedural, a debut novel frightening in its depiction of a possible drug lord takeover of an entire region, with the relationship between its two leading characters making a more lighthearted contrast.” On the Criminal Element website, Corrina Lawson commented: “Overall, I hope this is the beginning of a new series starring Det. Wallace Hartman, as I’d like to spend more time in her world.” She added: “And the romance loving part of me hopes Mason will continue to be a supporting character in her story.” Sandra Martin, writing on the RT Book Reviews website, said: “Detective Wallace Hartman and Agent Mason Cunningham combine to make an impressive crime-solving duo with explosive chemistry.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, August 1, 2017, Don Crinklaw, review of Dark River Rising, p. 29.
Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2017, review of Dark River Rising.
ONLINE
Criminal Element, https://www.criminalelement.com/ (August 29, 2017), “Q&A with Roger Johns, Author of Dark River Rising,” author interview; (August 31, 2017), Corrina Lawson, review of Dark River Rising.
New York Journal of Books, https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/ (April 10, 2018), Toni V. Sweeney, review of Dark River Rising.
Roger Johns Website, https://rogerjohnsbooks.com (April 10, 2018), author profile.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (April 10, 2018), Sandra Martin, review of Dark River Rising.
Roger Johns is a former corporate lawyer and retired college professor with law degrees from Louisiana State University and Boston University. During his nearly two decades as a professor, he served on the editorial staffs of several academic publications and he won numerous awards and recognitions for his teaching and his scholarly writing. Roger was born and raised in Louisiana. He and his wife Julie now live in Georgia. Dark River Rising is his first novel.
Roger is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, Georgia Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.
He is a huge fan of the Atlanta Writers Conference and the New York Pitch Conference, both of which have been instrumental in the launch of his writing career.
Johns, Roger: DARK RIVER RISING
Kirkus Reviews.
(July 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Johns, Roger DARK RIVER RISING Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $26.99 8, 29 ISBN: 978-1-250-11009-1
A love/hate relationship develops into a working partnership between a Baton Rouge police detective and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.Wallace Hartman has caught a strange case of homicide: a drug dealer found tortured and dead with a live snake in his belly. Ronnie Overman was a major coke distributor with plenty of enemies, but which of them would kill him in such a bizarre way? Mason Cunningham, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Intelligence at the DEA, rarely leaves his D.C. office, but something about Overman's case draws him to Louisiana to see this one for himself. His best analyst has just suggested that something strange in the local coke trade may lead to a major drug war. Wallace's investigation leads her, via the unusual bags the coke found at the murder scene was packed in, to an agriculture research lab in Bayou Sara. Wallace and Mason, who begin by tiptoeing around their professional and personal relationship, slowly come to trust each other as they investigate. In Bayou Sara they discover that Matt Gable, a scientist at the lab, has vanished. His boss had ordered an unauthorized lab setup destroyed, but Matt's girlfriend, Carla Chapman, packed it up and hid it instead. Frantic over Matt's safety, she tells Wallace and Mason, and they send the equipment off to a lab to be tested. Matt's house has been burned to the ground, and he seems to have taken off after the death of Overman, with whom he had some kind of working relationship. As the detectives struggle to figure out what Matt was doing to arouse so much interest from drug dealers, the evidence points to a shocking development that will require some very creative detective work indeed. Johns' first novel is an exciting police procedural rolled into a romantic thriller that hints of more to come.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Johns, Roger: DARK RIVER RISING." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2017. Book Review Index Plus,
1 of 3 3/24/18, 10:25 PM
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http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A497199745/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=251cce3e. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A497199745
2 of 3 3/24/18, 10:25 PM
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Dark River Rising
Don Crinklaw
Booklist.
113.22 (Aug. 1, 2017): p29. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Dark River Rising. By Roger Johns. Aug. 2017. 304p. Minotaur, $26.99 (9781250110091); e-book, $12.99 (9781250110114).
Johns has managed to assemble a fine thriller out of stock parts. There's the opening with the gruesome murder--a 10 on the Richter, it involves a snake--the persistent cop, the questioning colleague, the jerk boss, and, finally, the hostage and the attempt at a last-minute rescue. The victim is a Baton Rouge drug lord pushing "the most popular drug since the inception of organized religion." Then federal crime-watchers notice that street prices for the white powder are going down when they should be going up. Police Detective Wallace Hartman thus finds herself with two mysteries to solve; help comes from a surprising place: a DEA agent who turns out to be a nice, smart man and not the turf-mad cliche we're used to. Their interplay as they partner up is refreshing. The key is chemistry, though we could have done without all the natter on isotopes and alkaloids. The fine, tense ending overlays the scary message: soon cokeheads won't need coca leaves, mules, dealers, all that. Just a chemistry set.--Don Crinklaw
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Crinklaw, Don. "Dark River Rising." Booklist, 1 Aug. 2017, p. 29. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A501718775/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=9306b56d. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A501718775
3 of 3 3/24/18, 10:25 PM
Q&A with Roger Johns, Author of Dark River Rising
Crime HQ and Roger Johns
Read an exclusive Q&A with Roger Johns, author of Dark River Rising, and make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of this thrilling debut mystery!
Roger Johns is the debut author of Dark River Rising, a tense and expertly-plotted mystery set against the bayous of Louisiana. A former corporate lawyer and college professor, Mr. Johns has now turned his focus to his love of crime fiction. Recently, the author was generous enough to answer questions about his debut novel, Louisiana as a setting, and what it's like transitioning from lawyer to author.
What is the significance of setting your debut novel in Louisiana?
This is a very interesting question because so many things about the book changed during the writing process. Scenes and characters came and went. The timeline underwent a few revisions. Even the name, gender, and occupation of the protagonist changed—more than once. And all of those changes were the result of a good deal of deliberation. The setting, however, never varied, nor did I ever have any internal debate over where the story would take place.
Without any conscious decision on my part, the events just began unfolding in Baton Rouge, and I never questioned that. It never occurred to me to consider any other location. As I look back on that, I realize now that it’s because the city and the state still hold a great deal of personal meaning to me—even though I have lived nearly half my life away in many interesting places.
Read Roger Johns's guest post “Start with Setting: A Focus on Time and Place”!
I was born and grew up in Louisiana, and between 1974 and 1987, I went to college and law school in Baton Rouge. I had some very intense life and work experiences in Baton Rouge and Lafayette—a town fifty miles to the west—experiences that altered me in fundamental and fairly dramatic ways. And that is something that has not been duplicated since or elsewhere. You get to know a place and develop feelings toward it when you experience it so intensely. There’s a lot of emotional intensity in Dark River Rising, and I think that’s possible because that’s exactly how I experienced the town.
What draws you to crime fiction?
Crime fiction has fascinated me since I read my way through the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries as a little kid. The struggle between the criminal and the crime fighter, between the prosocial and the antisocial mindsets—which is something that exists in every place and time—is just too interesting to ignore and so much fun to explore as a reader and a writer.
Plus, I like the idea that the crime fighter can win the day, even on a very unlevel playing field. The criminal operates unencumbered by all of the legal, political, social, and ethical constraints (the “honor among thieves” bromide notwithstanding) that tie the crime fighter’s hands, yet the crime fighter can still win. Not always in real life, but certainly in the world of crime fiction.
The crime fighter, often at great personal cost, proves to have just that extra little bit of physical or intellectual capability that’s needed to outfight or outwit an opponent that seems destined to win. So, in a sense, the crime fighter is, by definition, always the underdog, and it’s easy to develop a rooting interest in the underdog. As readers, we can vicariously experience what it’s like to have and to use those capabilities. And I would guess that virtually all readers—probably even criminals—find the good-guy-wins ending to be pretty satisfying.
What was the transition like from lawyer and educator to author? What challenges, if any, presented themselves?
The transition was slow and bumpy. The premise of Dark River Rising sprang out of a question that occurred to me during my time as a business law professor. Thinking it might be a good idea for a novel, I toyed with the idea off and on, more or less expecting that it would turn itself into a book just because I was convinced that it was such an unbelievable idea and that that’s what unbelievable ideas were supposed to do.
The biggest surprise was discovering that, after so many years in the ultra-precise professions of law and academia, the freer world of fiction writing is where I feel most at home.
At some point, after a lot of getting nowhere, I realized that a good idea for a book is not the same thing as a good plot, so I sought professional help in the form of a novel-writing class taught by a very talented, well-published crime novelist in Atlanta. After a few more false starts, mostly due to a change in employment and a failed attempt to return permanently to the Southwest, I retired a few years early.
Like so many who try the early-retirement experiment, I learned that such was not my road. When I announced to my wife that I was going to have another go at finishing my book, she suggested that if I didn’t finish it on this attempt, then perhaps it was time to administer last rites. That was, to say the least, a very motivating prospect to contemplate.
Probably the biggest challenge was adjusting to the idea that writing fiction is a relatively unconstrained experience. As a financial institutions lawyer, I worked within an absurdly complex, rigid set of rules and procedures, where any deviation or misstep was fraught with peril. Likewise, as an academic, the universities where I taught always had very specific expectations about my teaching and service. And the pathways one navigates in academic research can be amazingly narrow.
Writing fiction frees me from most of that. Sure, there are constraints of plausibility and readability, but the world I create and populate is largely in my hands, and that took some getting used to. Ironically, I am absolutely certain that without the enormous discipline I was forced to develop as a lawyer and a college professor, I would succumb to my natural inclination toward laziness and be unable to produce book-length manuscripts—especially stories as intricate as mysteries where all the parts have to fit together with the precision of watch work.
You craft some pretty gruesome scenes in Dark River Rising. What is your brainstorming process/how do you come up those ideas?
I like putting things together that don’t typically go together, and the opening scene in Dark River Rising would be an example of that. Also, extremes of thought, word, and deed are always more compelling than normal, even-keel activities, and they will always have a home in crime fiction. So my thinking tends to gravitate in those directions.
Plus, I have a tendency to write the kinds of things I like to read. The practitioners of the more gruesome criminal arts are the ones we most want to get caught—Jack the Ripper, Hannibal Lecter. So, for me, it’s an attempt to build in, from the beginning, a strong need for the antagonist to be brought down in the end.
Describe Dark River Rising in less than five words.
Intense, funny, dark, uplifting.
What do you want readers to think or feel after finishing this book?
Most importantly, I want readers to feel entertained by the story—to feel as if they have spent a few hours in the presence of some very realistic characters and have gotten good value for the time and money they exchanged for the book. And, of course, I hope they will find the characters interesting enough that they’ll be willing to spend more time with them in the future. Also, I’d like the reader to come away from the book with a sense of Louisiana that is slightly different from its typical portrayal in fiction. So often the state is depicted through the lens of either New Orleans or Cajun country, but there’s quite a bit more to it than those two areas.
As this is your debut novel, what parts of the writing process surprised or challenged you the most?
The biggest challenge was learning to trust a different part of my brain. Having subjugated the creative to the logical and the efficient for so many years, the prospect of making the shift from instruction to entertainment was intimidating. Fortunately, I got a lot of encouragement and hand-holding from my wife and my critique group members. The biggest surprise was discovering that, after so many years in the ultra-precise professions of law and academia, the freer world of fiction writing is where I feel most at home.
Read an excerpt from Dark River Rising!
What are you currently reading?
I tend to have several books going at once. At the moment, I'm reading the Natchez Burning Trilogy by Greg Iles. From start to finish, it's nearly 2,400 pages, and I'm about 280 pages in. I'm also reading X, the 24th volume in Sue Grafton's series about P.I. Kinsey Millhone. These Honored Dead by Jonathan Putnam—a fascinating historical whodunit involving the pre-presidential Abraham Lincoln and his landlord and good friend Joshua Speed. And Wait for Signs, a collection of Walt Longmire short stories by Craig Johnson.
What would be your murder weapon of choice?
Well, technically, murder is unjustifiable homicide—something I don’t know if I could ever do. That said, on the justifiable side of the street, my weapon of choice is something so atypical that if I reveal it here, you can be sure that if anyone ever winds up dead by such means, the police would be at my door by sundown, waving a search warrant in my face with copy of this interview attached. So, I’m thinking maybe I should keep this a secret.
If you could team up Wallace with any other detective, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
This is a great (and, for me, a very easy-to-answer) question. However, I feel like I’m treading on dangerous ground. As a debut author, I’m more than a bit nervous about hitching my protagonist’s wagon to a more established character’s star. But since I was told that this was the one question I absolutely could not skip, then with great humility and fingers a-tremble, I type the name Walt Longmire, protagonist of Craig Johnson’s superb mysteries set in Wyoming.
Both Walt and Wallace are smart, physically capable, physically fearless, and strong willed. But they also have their softer, more human sides, and they’re not afraid to show them—not afraid that by showing those sides of themselves they’ll be judged weak or incompetent. And readers know that it’s that willingness to be an uncloseted, whole person that renders them able to understand and outwit the people they go after.
That said, it’s also true that the other characters Walt and Wallace interact with see them as singular individuals—different in some subtle but important way. Against a proper opponent, it would be fascinating to watch them compete with and complement each other, to see how they would negotiate those moments when disaster is looming, time is short, and each is convinced they’re right about what to do next and that the other person is wrong.
And due to a most fortuitous alphabetic coincidence, such a story would be easy to shelve in the bookstore because Johns and Johnson will always be right next to each other. Lucky me.
[Author’s Note: Craig Johnson, the creator of the Longmire series, was kind enough to provide a wonderful blurb for my debut novel, so here I find myself repaying his generosity by exploiting his masterpiece. Craig, if you’re reading this, please take this as a true compliment from a most loyal fan.]
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Dark River Rising: A Mystery
Image of Dark River Rising: A Mystery (Wallace Hartman Mysteries)
Author(s):
Roger Johns
Release Date:
August 28, 2017
Publisher/Imprint:
Minotaur Books
Pages:
304
Buy on Amazon
Reviewed by:
Toni V. Sweeney
“a taut thriller, with two strong lead characters who’ll hold the reader’s interest.”
Policewoman Wallace Hartman has a new case, and it catches attention from the start. A drug dealer has been murdered in a most gruesome way.
“Ronnie Overman, a big player, main coke distributor for a Mexican cartel for the whole southern half of Louisiana. She had grown almost numb to the endless parade of inventive atrocities but this one was in a class all by itself.”
When Federal Agent Mason Cunningham arrives in Baton Rouge, he brings with him more bad news. He thinks Ronnie Overman’s death is the beginning of a drug turf war, a fact discovered by Don Brindl, an FBI analyst.
“A cross-match of a person of high interest to the DEA is also the subject of a local investigation, a cartel-level player. More dealers are getting popped because there are more dealers on the streets, and it’s happening in new parts of town.”
Mason becomes Wallace’s unofficial partner on the case. Eventually, because of his less-than-stereotypical federal agent demeanor, an attraction grows between the two. “The moment was heavy with possibilities and she could see him struggling. Maybe trying to think of something clever to say that would close the remaining space between them—and wrestling with whether to say it. There was something irresistible about a man who embarrassed so easily.”
When a scientist goes missing from a government lab and his house is burned to the ground, his girlfriend insists the police aren’t trying to find him. “‘I know what they’re thinking. That I won’t face the fact he’s gone off with someone. For Pete’s sake, his house burned down and his lab is full of stuff nobody even knows what it is.’”
Mason and Wallace eventually find a tie between the two events and the case gets more complicated. Is there a turf war? How is missing chemist Matt Gable involved? Then his girlfriend disappears.
With Don Brindl’s further assistance, Mason gets information on all involved parties. The killer seems to be ahead of them, however, as if he’s aware of every move they make. Somehow, he has ties to Mason, and that fact puts not only Mason and Wallace in danger, but also those they hold dear.
Dark River Rising is a taut thriller, with two strong lead characters who’ll hold the reader’s interest. Contrasting FBI procedures with those of the Baton Rouge police, it delves into the history of the drug cartels in the South and of one kingpin’s apparent attempts to take over the entire operation.
Told from Wallace’s point of view, the narrative is delivered with a straightforward intensity that hold until the last chapter. At that point, there seems to be a hurried wrap-up. The fate of one victim is explained in a few sentences, almost as if in afterthought. The budding romantic interest between Mason and Wallace is never fully explored, other than to give a nod to its existence with a single matter-of-fact and undetailed love scene, and its future is left in the air, perhaps to many readers’ disappointment. Indeed, the entire last chapter merely suggests what may come for all the characters, instead of giving definite answers.
Might that be a hint that this novel is the first of a series?
All in all, Dark River Rising is a dark police procedural, a debut novel frightening in its depiction of a possible drug lord takeover of an entire region, with the relationship between its two leading characters making a more lighthearted contrast.
Toni V. Sweeney is the author of The Adventures of Sinbad and The Kan Ingan Archives series and also writes under the pseudonym Icy Snow Blackstone.
Review: Dark River Rising by Roger Johns
Corrina Lawson
Dark River Rising by Roger Johns
Dark River Rising by Roger Johns
Dark River Rising by Roger Johns is a tense and expertly plotted debut mystery set against the bayous of Louisiana.
Read an exclusive Q&A with author Roger Johns & learn how to win a copy of Dark River Rising!
“Begin as you mean to go on” is the frequent advice given to many writers, advice that Roger Johns seems to have taken to heart with the opening of his debut mystery novel, Dark River Rising. Johns makes it clear right away that this book is not going to look away from horrible things, beginning with an especially gory crime scene that almost causes our seasoned detective, Wallace Hartman, to lose the contents of her stomach.
There was a cruelly sutured incision just below his rib cage and his abdomen heaved with a sinuous reptilian rhythm. Wallace’s mind recoiled from what her eyes insisted was true—that a snake was slithering among his innards searching for a way out. The corpse looked like it was belly dancing its way into the hereafter.
The victim is not a good guy by any measure; he’s the head of a drug-running scheme in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and well-known to the vice division of the city’s police. Wallace’s job is to find out why someone would want the man dead and, if it’s a rival, to stop a gang war. It soon becomes more complicated, as the method used in the torture and murder—especially the snake—catch the attention of Federal Agent Mason Cunningham, who has been using mathematical algorithms to predict an increase in crime from drug dealing.
There are many things that this debut novel gets right. A fascinating lead detective in Wallace, an intriguing hardboiled mystery, a nice cast of supporting characters, and a terrific, tense climax.
There’s also a beautiful sense of place, not only in Baton Rouge but also in other areas of Louisiana. Johns’s biography says he was born and raised in the state, and it shows in his handling of the setting, from the landscape to how the local characters think and react.
Read Roger John's guest post: “Start with Setting: A Focus on Time and Place”!
The mechanics of the mystery are great. There are numerous suspects, from the grieving father of a daughter who died of an overdose to others in the dealer’s circle to the cartel he works with to the mysterious person he was meeting at the warehouse where he was tortured and killed. At one point, Wallace must trace the origin of specially-made plastic bags found at the crime scene—something I’d never run across in fiction before—which led to a laboratory and revealed information that broke open the case.
I also liked how smartly Mason is written, especially his deduction about the crime scene, which lends to even more information. Mason is a cross between an office nerd and a federal agent, and he’s drawn refreshingly free of the sometimes macho posturing that seems to go hand in hand with a particular type of law enforcement officer in fiction. Their relationship is low-key and tentative but works as they begin to trust the other.
I did run across a few issues, however.
Wallace begins the book in a depressed state, meaning that there’s little that she truly craves. This makes it hard to bond with her, at least initially. The stakes in the beginning for her are low. Perhaps she might lose her job, perhaps not, but she’s not sure she cares at this point.
It’s far easier to write characters who want something, and that is clear from the way the cast around her comes to life before Wallace herself does. For instance, one of the suspects involved with Overman receives a point of view. What he wants is vividly drawn, as are his fears of being caught before he can accomplish that goal. It wasn’t until the climax—which contains a gripping final confrontation with the murderer where the lives of those she cares about are at stake—that I decided I’d like to spend more time with Wallace.
The story also falls down a bit with the main villain. I prefer a mystery that keeps me guessing yet provides enough clues to allow me to try to decipher who the killer might be myself. Instead, the killer’s identity is revealed about halfway through the book, and he’s given a point of view sooner than that. I know that giving a villain a point of view is part and parcel of some books in the mystery genre, and I’m sure the intent was to add suspense so the reader might start wondering when the villain might betray our heroes, but I felt a bit deflated reading it, as I wanted to find out for myself.
But, beyond that, the connection between why the villain committed murder and how he put his plan together are a bit weak—yes, I know his background fits the crime, but his plan is overly complicated and more than fussy. I did love that he’s good at sorting details through a logical filter but not so good at reading people, which causes him to misjudge them over and over because he’s overconfident in his abilities.
Overall, I hope this is the beginning of a new series starring Det. Wallace Hartman, as I’d like to spend more time in her world. (And the romance loving part of me hopes Mason will continue to be a supporting character in her story.)
Read an excerpt from Dark River Rising!
DARK RIVER RISING
Author(s):
Roger Johns
This debut novel starts with a gruesome crime and leads readers through the dark and dangerous world of drug cartels and ruthless criminals. Detective Wallace Hartman and Agent Mason Cunningham combine to make an impressive crime-solving duo with explosive chemistry. Wallace is damaged, but tenacious, unapologetic, but effective. Mason is intelligent and more controlled. Together they piece together the clues in this compelling fast-paced mystery that weaves its way through the streets and bayous of Baton Rouge. As they close in on a killer, the unexpected danger rises as swiftly as the dark and turbulent waters of the river running through town.
Police Detective Wallace Hartman has seen her share of extreme violence, but nothing prepares her for what she sees on her latest crime scene: a snake sewn into the belly of a big-time drug distributor in South Louisiana. The man was tortured, and Wallace wonders what secrets the man held that someone was determined to learn. Federal DEA agent Mason Cunningham works with intelligence analysts, and the data suggests a drug turf war may be on the horizon. As Mason joins Wallace’s investigation, they uncover the disappearance of Matt Gable, a young scientist whose house was burnt down shortly after the killing. The scientist’s girlfriend now fears for his life. What was going on in the lab where he worked? As Wallace and Mason work together to track down the elusive killer, they uncover an agenda no one anticipated and a ruthless opponent determined to eliminate anyone in his path. (MINOTAUR, Aug., 304 pp., $26.99)
Reviewed by:
Sandra Martin