Rating: 
Summary: River Of Darkness/A Friendly Favorite
Review: I was captivated by John Madden of Scotland Yard, a damaged
veteran of WWI, the sinister killer and most especially Madden's
love interest, Dr. Helen Blackwell. Fine romantic descriptions
of their passion for each other amidst the sinister deceptions
of the villain. Indeed, John Madden was a lucky dog! I'm trying
to locate the author's two earlier works, Snatch, and Once a
Spy.
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I'm sorry to say that I found River of Darkness to be a very disappointing, and totally predictable, thriller. The only mystery to me is how so many people can have enjoyed it. The failings are too many to all go into, so I'll stick to a few. Firstly, there are far too many characters introduced, all of whom are as well rounded as cardboard. The three exceptions are the leads: Madden, the detective, who is still trying to come to terms with the horrors of WW1. But even though the author has gone to the trouble of fleshing out Madden's background, the Detective still comes across as unsympathetic and totally unlikeable.
Of course, there's the mandatory love interest. An attractive doctor who sees more in Madden than anyone else does (including the reader)and they're promptly having sex soon after meeting (one of the worst written and gratuitous scenes ever put to paper). And finally, there's the villain, Angus Pike, who is introduced to us early in the story, just to get rid of any possiblity of a mystery. Pike likes slitting the throats of beautiful women. When he sees one he likes, he stalks them until he gets what he wants. Gee, I wonder what will happen when Pike sees the lovely Doctor? Could he stalk her and then make an attack, only to be stopped by Madden at the last moment? No, that would be far too predictable. Wouldn't it?
Rating: 
Summary: This could have been a great book!
Review: It misses.Not by much, but a little. The potential was there, the characters are there, the suspense is there, the history is there. But it misses by an outside ball. Great concept, the first world war and a mystery. Next time he'll be perfect. This one I read in 5 hours. Wasn't that bad if I stayed up half the night.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting new character arrives on mystery scene
Review: Readers of the Charles Todd Inspector Rutledge series will be taken aback by the superficial similarities between the Todd series and a description of Rennie Airth's first book in his Inspector Madden series. But, aside from the fact that both protagonists have seen death and destruction at the front during WWI, these characters are quite different (although both interesting in their own ways). It won't ruin anything to say that Inspector Madden's world is ultimately a bit less personally bleak than Todd's, although the solution to Madden's mystery is as bleak as they get.
Rating:
Summary: Shell shocked
Review: Rennie Airth first novel River of Darkness is set in post WWI England. A time and place which in many ways parallels post Viet Nam America. A rapidly changing society that the veterans of war have to come to terms with, while battling their own personal ghosts of war.Airth does well in describing some of these changes and personal battles. As other people have mentioned this book also bears striking resemblance to Charles Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge books. I fould Airth's John Madden to be less tormented and closer to salvation than Ian Rutledge. I prefer Todd's books because they are less openly romantic than Airth's River of Darkness. Although I understand how some might prefer River of Darkness for its romanticism in bleak circumstances River of Darkness is a very interesting study of a psychotic killer although very Freudian in perspective. This of course fits naturally with the time and place. I would highly recommend this book to a reader of historical mysteries.
Rating: 
Summary: Ambitious river of tedium
Review: Rennie Airth's "River of Darkness" is an ambitious book. it wants to be a good psychological thriller while also being a good post World War I novel. Well, that fails. The psychology is sound, as the hero, John Madden, learns of what could be driving the killer. Madden is a haunted widower who is also scarred mentally from war. His love interest is also scarred in her own way, and she is also unconviningly forward with Madden. It seems so out of place. The history here is the best part. Airth does get the zeitgeist of 1920s Britain right. His characters, on the other hand, are flat and boring. The killer, who we meet early, is a one-trick pony. That really isn't interesting. Predictable maiden-in-distress as climax, and very predictable ending.
Rating: 
Summary: In a word: Dreadful
Review: Rennie Airth's "River of Darkness" is possibly one of the most poorly written mysteries in recent publishing history. Set in Post World War One England, "Darkness" fails on many levels; failures made all the more glaring by the successes of Charles Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge series ("A Test of Wills, et al), which are set in the same milieu. For an historical mystery, "Darkness" is largely devoid of any period detail or flavor. Oh, there are the occasional references to the War, but when the lead character is a veteran wounded on many occasions, you'd think there'd be more of a profound feeling of loss and gloom so soon after the conflict ("Darkness" is set in 1921). Airth disappoints on this score. Additionally, many of the details on the War very superficial. This gives the , reader familiar with the period an impression that Airth did very little in way of research on the period other than reading one book. Maybe that's why so little of the titanic gloom of this period, and the emotional hangover that all of England felt after four years of senseless slaughter is missing from "Darkness." In fact, overall, the reader gets very little sense of time or place rather than those perfunctory references. There is little description to give the scenes life, and what's left is a rather bland backdrop peopled by very flat, vanilla characters in what turns out to be a very predictable, Hollywood-style formula thriller rather than a real mystery. Also, there are "Hardy Boys" mysteries with snappier, less corn-ball dialogue than Airth writes. You almost get the feeling that "Darkness" was intended as for an audience with a 7th grade reading level. Not only does it lack an authentic feel for the English turn of phrase, but a period feel is also absent. In one scene, a character proclaims that another is a "nincompoop." You have to be pretty bad to be able to work that word into your dialogue. Nincompoop. I ask you. The pacing is also disastrous. At some points, things happen out of nowhere. (The love interest, a lady doctor appears in only three brief and very terse, impersonal scenes with Inspector Madden; in the fourth scene, they are ripping one another's clothes off. What?) Meanwhile, in the middle of the book, Airth absolutely refuses to get on with the story. And most disturbing of all, Airth is currently working on a sequel to this catastrophically bad book. Do yourself a favor: don't read that one, either.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious river of tedium
Review: Rennie Airth's "River of Darkness" is an ambitious book. it wants to be a good psychological thriller while also being a good post World War I novel. Well, that fails. The psychology is sound, as the hero, John Madden, learns of what could be driving the killer. Madden is a haunted widower who is also scarred mentally from war. His love interest is also scarred in her own way, and she is also unconviningly forward with Madden. It seems so out of place. The history here is the best part. Airth does get the zeitgeist of 1920s Britain right. His characters, on the other hand, are flat and boring. The killer, who we meet early, is a one-trick pony. That really isn't interesting. Predictable maiden-in-distress as climax, and very predictable ending.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious river of tedium
Review: Rennie Airth's "River of Darkness" is an ambitious book. it wants to be a good psychological thriller while also being a good post World War I novel. Well, that fails. The psychology is sound, as the hero, John Madden, learns of what could be driving the killer. Madden is a haunted widower who is also scarred mentally from war. His love interest is also scarred in her own way, and she is also unconviningly forward with Madden. It seems so out of place. The history here is the best part. Airth does get the zeitgeist of 1920s Britain right. His characters, on the other hand, are flat and boring. The killer, who we meet early, is a one-trick pony. That really isn't interesting. Predictable maiden-in-distress as climax, and very predictable ending.
Rating:
Summary: Voyage on the River Styx
Review: Rennie Airth's novel of a serial killer's harvest in the English countryside following World War I is as tightly written, well controlled and seamlessly plotted as anything I have read. This is one of those genre novels that goes way beyond what is needed to what is wanted in any novel: detail, intelligence, a compelling and beautiful love story, and a set of double-whammies at the end that leave the reader just about literally breathless. Airth's treatment of his characters, including the horrifyingly cool, bone-chillingly focused killer, is first-rate. Airth transcends the cops-and-robbers camouflage, and the considerable bloodshed, in the story by virtue of his being, simply, one of the best serious--and popular--writers working today. I intend to watch carefully for the next one--and plan on a long evening of pleasure.
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