A pulsating story that is just waiting to pull you into its chilling depths.
When Sloan left the backwater town of Mallowater, Texas, in her rearview mirror, she had no intention of returning home. Ever. And it’s hard to blame her. Twenty years ago was the beginning of the end for her family. Her good-natured little brother was forced under the unforgiving waters of Crow’s Nest Creek, a crime too horrible to contemplate. The death of a family member is devastating on its own, but when her beloved father is named the murderer, devastating is no longer an adjective powerful enough to describe the depths of Sloan’s anguish. Her mother, stuck in her own unrelenting loop of grief and anger, becomes unstable and unreliable, leaving young Sloan to deal with the loss of her family all by herself. Though her brother’s body was never found, there were plenty of horrific discoveries in the wake of his death that left Sloan at the center of a small-town scandal. Now, some two decades separate her from that fateful day, yet her circumstances haven’t improved much. A call from an old friend forces Sloan back home to Mallowater to deal with her mother’s escape from a psychiatric hospital. A newly minted divorcee herself, Sloan has to face the emotional impact of a failed marriage while at the same time reliving the trauma of losing her brother, her family, and the innocence of her childhood.
As riveting a prologue as modern fiction has ever seen, A River of Crows hits the ground running and never stops to come up for air! Besides a cast of relatable characters, a condensed education on crow behavior, and a string of narrative bombshells, the author packs even more of a literary punch with some brilliant metaphors that will leave a lasting impression on the hearts and minds of readers. Shaped by a childhood whose memories have been forged in a vortex of grief, Sloan is stuck in the dangerous rut of always anticipating the next setback, the next call with bad news, the next adversity. The supporting cast is not left unscathed by tragedy either, so the themes of resilience and persistence conjure a positive undercurrent that acts as a balanced contrast. Dramatic hooks at the end of each chapter will compel you to keep in step with Sloan, even if it means reading until the sun comes up. Like the tumultuous river flowing at the center of this gripping tale, Shanessa Gluhm has crafted a pulsating story that is just waiting to pull you into its chilling depths and slowly reveal all its darkest secrets.
