The River Sorrow

Rating:
Summary: I NEED HELP WITH THIS BOOK!!!
Review: Can anybody tell me more about the characters, plot, theme and setting?? I am reading this book, and I have to write a paper for it, and I need "Academic Reviews". This must detail the characters, plot, theme, setting, style of writing and the like. Please help me with any and all information! Thank you! God Bless!

Rating:
Summary: Simply Awful
Review: Craig Holden has done some very good writing in his career, but this book can't be included in that statement. I loved his book Four Corners of Night so I thought I'd give this one a try, but I put it down after slogging through the first 200 pages. The plot seemed mildly interesting, but the characters are so one-dimensional and shallow that I didn't care one bit about anything that happened to them. They were all boring, poorly-created cliches. The writing in this book was also terrible. Holden's prose in Four Corners of Night was some of the best I've seen in years, so he's obviously learned a lot about his craft, but this novel reads like a high school kid's attempt at writing a "cool" book. Don't waste your time on this one.

Rating:
Summary: TEARS OF WOE
Review: Craig Holden's "River of Sorrow" is a mesmerizing novel, with characters that have human failings, along with their heroic traits. Reformed drug addict Dr. Adrian Lancaster is drawn into a maze of murder and betrayal, and is ultimately set up for crimes he has not committed. Holden makes us feel for Lancaster, especially when he "falls off the wagon." Frank Brandon's character is immensely appealing, as is fellow cop Ellen Burns. The character of Storm Summers is the typical femme fatale and her true identity is prophesied early on, but what happens from there is unique and twisty. Julian Kline, the DEA agent , is also an interesting character. Flashbacks aid in helping the reader figure things out along with Lancaster and Brandon.
A nice, tidy psychological study of hope, despair and revenge.
RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: Mistakenly convinced of lifes tragedies
Review: Craig Holden's "River of Sorrow" is a mesmerizing novel, with characters that have human failings, along with their heroic traits. Reformed drug addict Dr. Adrian Lancaster is drawn into a maze of murder and betrayal, and is ultimately set up for crimes he has not committed. Holden makes us feel for Lancaster, especially when he "falls off the wagon." Frank Brandon's character is immensely appealing, as is fellow cop Ellen Burns. The character of Storm Summers is the typical femme fatale and her true identity is prophesied early on, but what happens from there is unique and twisty. Julian Kline, the DEA agent , is also an interesting character. Flashbacks aid in helping the reader figure things out along with Lancaster and Brandon.
A nice, tidy psychological study of hope, despair and revenge.
RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: A flawed hero
Review: Holden's 1994 debut novel features a protagonist whose flaws chip away relentlessly at his hero status.

Adrian Lancaster is a talented emergency room physician who makes no attempt to conceal his heroin-addicted past and has made enemies among the police in his efforts to establish a local clinic for addicts.

As the links to his past proliferate in a series of murders establishing him as a primary suspect, Lancaster is forced to conduct his own underground investigation, accompanied by a strange young woman who leads him back to addiction.

The story is tense and suspenseful, the medical details interesting, the character exploration deep and insightful. Lancaster is a more credible character for his weaknesses, but the reader becomes increasingly unable to identify with this realistically repellant addict. Holden strives for something more literary than the usual thriller, and succeeds, while depriving the reader of the vicarious vindication inherent in the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Amoral & violent
Review: I think my rewiew will be a little diferent from the others I have read here. In my opinion, "The River Sorrow" is a slow-pace story, without good characterization. That's the kind of book you forget as soon as you finished reading. A book to be really remarkable must stay in your mind long after you put it down. That's not the case of "River Sorrow"!

Rating:
Summary: Mistakenly convinced of lifes tragedies
Review: Ridiculous, is the only thing I can say about those whose reviews I have read here. One says that a book should stay in your mind, probably from a person that has read all of the Harry Potter stories, although decent not memorable. Another atates that the course of the story was horrid and temultuous, probably one who has yet to realize that the world is filled with worse then what Holden talks about. The book has stayed with me till this day. I read it almost 10 years ago and then again and again and again, a total of 4 times I have enjoyed this drive into the hell that is the lives that the rest of us dont wish on anyone. Are there things in this book that make you shudder? Yes. Are there characters that make you writhe in your seat? Yes. But without these emotional stigmas then we wouldnt be able to sustain the oxygen that enables us to carry on our daily lives. Wouldnt want the characters in this book to be anything nor anyone else. Wish you had more works like this out there Mr. Holden, have you ever thought about a screenplay, I would love to write it for you, or perhaps you could edit the one I have???

Rating:
Summary: Amoral & violent
Review: The puzzle here is a intriging mystery but the extreme violence and amoral story line was a turn-off to me.