Bitter River (Bell Elkins, Book 2) - Hardcover

Julia Keller

3.68

3,569 ratings by Goodreads

9780755392902: Bitter River (Bell Elkins, Book 2)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0755392906 ISBN 13: 9780755392902

Publisher: Headline Book Publishing, 2013

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Concealed beneath the water, her body wants to be found... Bell Elkins returns in Bitter River, the gripping second instalment from Pulitzer prize winner Julia Keller. Perfect for fans of Dennis Lehane and Linwood Barclay. 'Julia Keller's lyrical and evocative prose in Bitter River propels the novel until all you can do is hang on until the final page. Her sense of place is spot-on and bittersweet' - C.J. Box Acker's Gap, West Virginia: a high-school student - sixteen, full of promise, and pregnant - is found murdered in a car at the bottom of the Bitter River. Her death devastates the community, but one among them must be responsible. Bell Elkins, Raythune County's prosecuting attorney, is determined to bring the killer to justice. But someone else has their own agenda. Amid the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains, another act of violence is about to strike. As Bell and Sheriff Nick Fogelsong work to uncover the truth, one thing is certain: no one can truly understand Acker's Gap until they are in the thick of it. Bell returned to her hometown to make a difference. But just how much is she willing to risk? What readers are saying about Julia Keller: 'Julia Keller creates brilliant characters' 'Keller's style of writing is poetic and dramatic. It is incredibly unusual. She seamlessly weaves the story-lines together' 'Five stars'

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About the Author:

Julia Keller was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. The chief book critic for the Chicago Tribune, she has taught both creative and non-fiction writing at Princeton, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2005.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* The world intrudes cruelly on Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, the hometown to which D.C. lawyer Bell Elkins has returned to try to make a difference. As county prosecutor, Bell is working with childhood friend, Sheriff Nick Fogelsong, on the murder of 16-year-old Lucinda Trimble when a potentially fatal shot is fired into the courthouse and soon followed by a tragedy at the local diner. The town mourns Lucinda—bright, beautiful, bursting with potential, but pregnant and planning to marry her high-school boyfriend—while both Bell and Nick display blind spots in the course of pursuing their investigation. The town is in shock after the diner incident, and Bell’s theory about what may be behind it comes just a little too late to prevent further bloodshed. With her 17-year-old daughter, Carla, now living with Bell’s ex in D.C. after the dangerous events in Keller’s highly-praised A Killing in the Hills (2012), Bell occasionally longs for the excitement of the city, but a single compelling personal reason keeps her in Acker’s Gap, however isolated it is. Once again, Keller combines masterful storytelling, a vivid sense of place—the beauty and poverty of Appalachia—a complex cast of characters, and a suspenseful, superbly executed plot that displays a depth rarely seen in mystery fiction. --Michele Leber

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