jrayers97 's review for:

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Gone to see the river man is an extreme horror novel, marketed as such, and yet I still didn’t expect everything that happened in this book. The crux of this novel is a Faustian bargain with the titular River Man. Lori’s love with a serial killer drives her to seek out this River Man and deliver a key to him. I really appreciated how the novel drip fed us with Lori’s backstory, starting as a sympathetic caretaker but slowly transitioning her to an incestuous attempted murderer. I wasn’t anticipating the supernatural horror but it was a pleasant surprise. In addition, I’ve read a few extreme horror novels, but the writing quality of this one surprised me quite a bit. The author clearly went to lengths to tell a well written story, and throw in disturbing aspects, rather than just the latter. The ending was quite predictable, as all Faustian bargain novels are, but the journey down the river was worth it.