Broken River
A Novel
J. Robert Lennon
- The
- most
- inventive
- and
- entertaining
- novel
- to
- date
- from
- “a
- master
- of
- the
- dark
- arts”
- (Kelly
- Link)A
- modest
- house
- in
- upstate
- New
- York.
- One
- in
- the
- morning.
- Three
- people—a
- couple
- and
- their
- child—hurry
- out
- the
- door,
- but
- it’s
- too
- late
- for
- them.
- As
- the
- virtuosic
- and
- terrifying
- opening
- scene
- of
- Broken
- River
- unfolds,
- a
- spectral
- presence
- seems
- to
- be
- watching
- with
- cold
- and
- mysterious
- interest.
- Soon
- the
- house
- lies
- abandoned,
- and
- years
- later
- a
- new
- family
- moves
- in.Karl,
- Eleanor,
- and
- their
- daughter,
- Irina,
- arrive
- from
- New
- York
- City
- in
- the
- wake
- of
- Karl’s
- infidelity
- to
- start
- anew.
- Karl
- tries
- to
- stabilize
- his
- flailing
- art
- career.
- Eleanor,
- a
- successful
- commercial
- novelist,
- eagerly
- pivots
- in
- a
- new
- creative
- direction.
- Meanwhile,
- twelve-year-old
- Irina
- becomes
- obsessed
- with
- the
- brutal
- murders
- that
- occurred
- in
- the
- house
- years
- earlier.
- And,
- secretly,
- so
- does
- her
- mother.
- As
- the
- ensemble
- cast
- grows
- to
- include
- Louis,
- a
- hapless
- salesman
- in
- a
- carpet
- warehouse
- who
- is
- haunted
- by
- his
- past,
- and
- Sam,
- a
- young
- woman
- newly
- reunited
- with
- her
- jailbird
- brother,
- the
- seemingly
- unrelated
- crime
- that
- opened
- the
- story
- becomes
- ominously
- relevant.Hovering
- over
- all
- this
- activity
- looms
- a
- gradually
- awakening
- narrative
- consciousness
- that
- watches
- these
- characters
- lie
- to
- themselves
- and
- each
- other,
- unleashing
- forces
- that
- none
- of
- them
- could
- have
- anticipated
- and
- that
- put
- them
- in
- mortal
- danger.
- Broken
- River
- is
- a
- cinematic,
- darkly
- comic,
- and
- sui
- generis
- psychological
- thriller
- that
- could
- only
- have
- been
- written
- by
- J.
- Robert Lennon.
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