Author: Avery Jenkins
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN: 978-168433-6111

A mystery from an unlikely source and an ancient indecipherable manuscript make up the plot of this fresh take on a cold case mystery from Avery Jenkins. Dark River is as compelling as the title sounds. The book begins with a strange vision of a dead teenage girl and only gets stranger from there.

The girl is Elle Anderson and, although the reader knows how she was killed from pretty early on in the book, the town where she lived is not so fortunate. After she is brutally killed and dumped into a river, twenty years pass with no leads on her case. That is, until Asa Cire, a middle-aged man who works as a gray market dealer and spends most of his time enjoying quiet meditations and reading books, has a strange and frightening vision of Elle's face at the bottom of a river. 

Asa is so stricken by the vision that, the following day when he sees a picture of Elle in an old newspaper, he realizes instantly that she is the girl that he saw and that he must do something to get justice for her. But things become even more complicated when a friend of Asa's who deals in Chinese artifacts brings him an ancient manuscript that has never before been translated. Asa soon realizes that the manuscript has some connection to Elle and, even more startling, a connection to himself as well.

This is a stunning endeavor on Jenkins' part and definitely one of my top books of the year. The setting and ambiance of this book were pitch perfect and the action peaked in all of the right places. There was a lot to love here and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who thinks the premise sounds intriguing—it is worth it to check this one out!

About Avery Jenkins

Dr. Avery Jenkins is a former award-winning journalist and essayist who took a 25-year break from the writing world to become a chiropractor and acupuncturist. He holds a 2nd degree black belt in the martial art of aikido and is in his final year of training to become a Daoist priest.

Dr. Jenkins lives in northwest Connecticut with his wife and two dogs of uncertain temperament.  Dark River is his first novel.

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