River, Sing Out by James Wade

River, Sing Out is the latest novel from award-winning author James Wade, a gripping book of crime and suspense about a girl and a boy on the run from evil drug dealers. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Attempting to escape his abusive father and generations of cyclical poverty, young Jonah Hargrove joins the mysterious River—a teenage girl carrying thousands of dollars in stolen meth—and embarks on a southern gothic odyssey through the East Texas river bottoms. They are pursued by local drug kingpin John Curtis and his murderous enforcer, Dakota Cade, with whom River was romantically involved. But Cade and Curtis have their own enemies, as their relationship with the cartel controlling their meth supply begins to sour. Keeping tabs on everyone is the Thin Man, a silent assassin who values consequence over mercy.”

Wade is a master storyteller with an ability to create a vivid world within his inventive narrative language. The cadence of the narration as well as the choice wordplay are unique to Wade. Although it takes time to assimilate to the language, once done, it is an invitation into a perfectly self-contained world. The relationships between young Jonah and River, as well as Jonah’s friendship with old man Carson, are the beating heart and soul of the story. These two narrative threads were a marvel to behold. Although the soliloquies from Cade, Curtis, and the Thin Man are effective in establishing their dominance over the region as well as their unabashed evil intentions, these speeches often bogged down the narrative. Nonetheless, the reader can’t help but cheer for Jonah, River, and Carson as their world undoubtedly spins out of control towards disaster, and our hope for their future grows more worrisome. The pacing of the storytelling is splendid and the description of the wildlife and countryside is poetic. Here’s an example:

“The morning sun didn’t hold, and soon the rain fell and gathered on the ground and in the trees, and the leaves weighed down and dripping, and the branches and plants sloped over like some great melting of the world. The squirrels looked out from their hiding holes, and the birds shook their wet feathers, and the deer moved silent toward higher ground. They moved in groups of threes and fours, like untrusting survivors of the apocalypse, stopping to lift their heads skyward and blow, trying their best to discern the true measure of their own safety in the storm.”

Well done, James Wade!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this novel 5 stars.

Buy the hardcover on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9781982601089