Review: Knife River

It takes a bit to get going, but once it does, this book is absolutely gorgeous. I should say – although this book is labeled as mystery/thriller, those genres are relatively small, subtle aspects of the story. The emphasis is much more on the main character, Jess, her relationship with her older sister, Liz, and the two of them navigating grief. There’s also a healthy dose of exploring small town prejudice. None of this is to say that there isn’t a mystery – there is, and the main characters work to solve it – but the mystery is for the sake of the characters’ growth, not the other way around. So I wouldn’t recommend going into the book with a mind towards a traditional mystery, because I don’t think that will get the best experience out of it.

As far as what I really liked, I thought the depiction of grief was beautifully done – all the small things that bring it back, the way that it colors a person’s whole experience of life. I actually enjoyed Liz as a character more than Jess, because there was so much to dig into. To me, she read very much as autistic-coded, but of course a lot of autistic traits are very similar to trauma responses, so I wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable assuming she’s certainly autistic. It did, however, make her a really compelling character to read about.

The ending was also beautiful. Honestly it made me tear up a bit. I would have maybe liked a bit more closure with the deputy plotline, but then, a big part of the book is that closure is not easy or linear, so perhaps it’s appropriate.

Probably my single complaint of any substance is just that it felt like it took a really long time for things to go anywhere at the beginning. There was a lot of time that felt just kind of stuck inside of Jess’ head, and it was hard for me to get into. But by about a third of the way through, I was absolutely hooked. It’s for sure worth sticking with.