River Road: A Novel - Hardcover

Goodman, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501109901 ISBN 13: 9781501109904

Publisher: Gallery Books, 2016

Synopsis

From the award-winning author of The Lake of Dead Languages comes a chilling new psychological thriller about a professor accused of killing her favorite student in a hit-and-run accident.

Nan Lewis—a creative writing professor at a state university in upstate New York—is driving home from a faculty holiday party after finding out she’s been denied tenure. On her way, she hits a deer, but when she gets out of her car to look for it, the deer is nowhere to be found. Eager to get home and out of the oncoming snowstorm, Nan is forced to leave her car at the bottom of her snowy driveway to wait out the longest night of the year—and the lowest point of her life...

The next morning, Nan is woken up by a police officer at her door with terrible news—one of her students, Leia Dawson, was killed in a hit-and-run on River Road the night before. And because of the damage to her car, Nan is a suspect. In the days following the accident, Nan finds herself shunned by the same community that rallied around her when her own daughter was killed in an eerily similar accident six years prior. When Nan begins finding disturbing tokens that recall the death of Nan’s own daughter, Nan suspects that the two accidents are connected.

As she begins to dig further, she discovers that everyone around her, including Leia, is hiding secrets. But can she uncover them, clear her name, and figure out who really killed Leia before her reputation is destroyed for good?

About this title

About the Author:

Carol Goodman is the critically acclaimed author of fourteen novels, including The Lake of Dead Languages and The Seduction of Water, which won the 2003 Hammett Prize. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family, and teaches creative writing at the New School and SUNY New Paltz. Visit her at CarolGoodman.com.

Review:

“A terrific psychological thriller that will keep readers guessing through every twist." Source: Library Journal (Starred Review)

"River Road is a gripping read with emotion-charged twists and turns that you won't see coming. Carol Goodman creates a heroine who'll linger with you long after you close the book."
—Tess Gerritsen, author of Playing with Fire

"Goodman expertly melds the psychological thriller and academic mystery into a compelling story of revenge and grief. . . . Believable twists drive River Road to a thrilling denouement." Source: Associated Press

"Sharp and a page-turner" Source: BookReporter.com

"The story is filled with unexpected twists. Like drivers on River Road, readers won’t be able to see what’s around the next corner." Source: The Freelance Star

“With romance folded between scenes of deadly danger, this is an engrossing mystery.”
—Booklist

"A suspense-filled page-turner....This engrossing novel will keep readers guessing unitil the end, which showcases the resilience of human nature and the will to survive." Source: RT Reviews (top pick)

"Goodman provides an insightful look at revenge, grief, and rebuilding one’s life after a horrific loss." Source: Publishers Weekly

"Goodman pushes the needle over into the red zone and keeps it there through page after page of suspense, until it bursts open like a firework in a redemptive conclusion. Longtime Goodman fans, here's our red meat; newcomers, prepare to become longtime fans." Source: Chronogram

“Add RIVER ROAD to Carol Goodman’s growing resume of frighteningly real suspense novels. Mixing an unreliable narrator with a dead creative writing student and a plethora of suspects in a forbidding setting of snow and ice, Goodman crafts a gripping novel impossible to put down until the shocking reveal on its final pages.”

—Robert Dugoni, author of My Sister’s Grave

About this edition

• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1501109901
• ISBN 13: 9781501109904
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288