A Nominee for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe AwardsNATIONAL BESTSELLER“A fiery tour de force… I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful.” –Alison Borden, The Denver PostFrom the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip–a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violenceWynn and Jack … by fire, white water, and violence
Wynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey. When they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank and decide to warn them about the fire, their search for the pair turns up nothing and no one. But: The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the man they heard? And, if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
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THE RIVER is a wonderful adventure story in which two college friends, who are best friends and outdoorsmen, canoe the remote lakes and rivers of northwest Canada. They’ve done similar trips before. This time, though, they encounter a devastating forest fire that has them paddling for their lives — until they encounter a woman, who was left half-dead by her husband, and a pair of boozing fishermen. At this point, the fire is almost secondary, as they become embroiled in a very different level of life-and-death struggle.
Do I call this a thriller? Well, it is. But I was drawn to it by the praise for its prose, and I wasn’t disappointed. THE RIVER is beautifully written, worth reading for this alone. I might quibble that there’s too much detail on wilderness traveling and survival. But the author is either very experienced or has done his homework, so that what he writes rings true.
I’d have given this book five stars if the plotting hadn’t fallen down a bit at the end for me. More was summarized in the epilogue than I might have liked. But THE RIVER has left me thinking of life, of compassion versus survival, and of ways in which life experiences mold us.
THE RIVER is a haunting book. I found it to be an excellent change of pace.
This is my favorite book of the year, to date: a tightly-written wilderness adventure, a lyrical mystery, and a heartrending story of friendship, rolled into one. Gorgeous and terrifying.
Urgent, visceral writing — I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. A beautiful, heartrending exploration of male friendship.
An amazing book. This one is going into the top five for the year. Absolutely beautiful writing craft. Evocative. Vivid. But most of all emotional. The author makes good use of the first sixty pages developing the two main characters Wynn and Jack who are friends on canoeing trip. This is a man vs man and man vs nature odyssey story. The conflict is foreshadowed and starts in earnest after page sixty. Nature and setting carry an equal weight as a main character and is wonderfully depicted. The book is stylistic in its structure and the story moves very quickly. It’s an easy read but I didn’t want it to end. I am a big fan of Dogstar by this author, but this book is better by a factor of five. I like all readers read for the emotion of the story and this one has a punch to the heart at the end. The kind of wrap up that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. And you can’t ask for more out of a book.
I highly recommend this book.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
One of the aspects of writing and reading stories set in the wilderness that I like best is that the characters usually can’t call 9-1-1 for help, or if they can, help will not arrive soon. So it’s up to the characters to save themselves. The River includes a long canoe trip down a wild river, a forest fire catching up to the canoeists, and several armed good ol’ boys that may or may not be murderers. It’s nonstop suspense. If you like to read about adventures in wild places, this book is for you.
An action bound adventure with two best friends In the wilderness becomes a thriller, not just with nature, but with man.
Very intense read. Taut and fast-paced and heartbreaking.
Wynn and Jack meet in college and bond over their love of mountains, camping and fishing. As the canoe down the Maskwa River in Canada, they anticipate weeks of paddling, fishing and enjoying the nature they see as they float by. What they did not expect was a raging forest fire that sent them rushing down the river. One foggy night they heard a couple arguing in the fog and the next morning they saw a man alone on the river. Where was the woman?
The author painted a detailed picture in my head of the setting and characters so I truly felt like I was paddling down the river with them. Definitely recommend!
Outstanding story of two college buddies who canoe up a river in Canada from the Canadian interior (Ontario) to Hudson’s Bay. They encounter a massive forest fire, two drunks canoeing up the river at their campsite, and a man and woman arguing at their campsite. The next morning, they see the man, but not the woman. What happened to her? The intersection of these three couples, in the face of a raging Canadian forest fire, and the decisions of the two buddies, creates the drama and the tension. I could not put it down. In addition, although the river is not a real one, it is based on a real river in Canada, and the descriptions of the river, lakes on the river, obstacles, portages, and the Canadian wilderness make for a fascinating geography lesson. The story was very well written, with the author ratcheting up the tension as the two buddies continue upriver to attempt to flee the fire and reach safety.
I’m not sure why this was my first Peter Heller book, but I can assure you it won’t be my last. The River is the story of two young men, Jack and Wynn, best friends from college, who love fishing, canoeing and communing with nature. On a long-awaited trip to canoe the Maskwa River in Canada where they have planned the adventure of a lifetime, they end up instead facing a dangerous journey that will test their endurance, skills and friendship.
This is an absolutely amazing book that poetically describes the beauty of trying to master the wilderness. It is an intense story of suspense and adventure that occurs when these two make a split-second decision to do the right thing. Jack and Wynn are best friends from different upbringings, but share an unbreakable bond even though they possess different temperaments.
I listened to this via Audible and the narrator was Mark Deakins, a new to me narrator. He did an excellent job of bringing the story to life and making the characters of Jack and Wynn feel real to me.
This story is deep and thought-provoking, and I am better for having read it. I look forward to more from this author. I gave it four stars.
Excellent adventure mystery. Poignant characters and well versed outdoorsmanship. Great read.
Wilderness mystery
I love the friendship between the two main guys, and how they are different from each other but just click together. Great story line.
Great book . Fast moving with twists and turns
I felt I was in that boat it was real.
This is a good read by a writer who’s more adept at describing white water canoeing in the northern Canadian wilderness than creating suspenseful situations and dialogue. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this story of two college friends, opposites in every way except for their love of the outdoors, who didn’t expect to encounter a raging forest fire or domestic violence on their summer adventure. I feared the worst, and . . . .
This is one of the best descriptive novels I have ever read; although the pace is slow and easy until the last part–it was not lagging. The characters are true to life, as are the pictured situations among the cast. Who really knows how they would react on a river in a burning area, with serious choices for survival to make? This one will stay in your mind for a while.
The narrator , Mark Deakins, has the perfect voice for this sometimes horrifying tale
I saved this book for a special occasion because I love Heller’s writing so very much. He develops his characters and prose so beautifully, and in that aspect he didn’t disappoint.
The story is set on a wild river in the far north, with a mystery woven into it that neither protagonists count on. This mystery derails their original plans to be in the wild with no support, like in the old days before cell phones and GPS trackers.
But a wildfire threatens everything, and turns this wilderness trip into a hair-raising adventure, plus an attempted murder they stumble into complicates their escape.
I know a lot of readers will love the surprise at the end, but I wanted to throw the book out the window. Heller builds up a lovely suspense between the characters, then the beautiful ending he could have created, one that would have been so meaningful and true AND unique vanished, replaced by what felt so out of character not just for the story but for what I know of Heller as a writer. This ending and the wrap up afterwards made my bones ache with disappointment.
I do recommend the read, however, as most readers will surely love the shocking ending, and will absolutely love his prose and the sense of genuine adventure – something so rare in this current modern world – shared between these two friends.
Couldn’t put it down. A tremendous tale of friendship, hardship, and adventure along a northern river.