Down River

Adam Chase has spent the last five years in New York City trying to erase his worst memories and the scorn and abandonment of his family. Then a phone call from his best friend awakens in him a torrent of emotion and pain. Having left North Carolina and its red soil for good, he never thought returning would be easy—but being remembered as a murderer doesn’t help much. Adam is beaten, accosted, and hostilely confronted by his family, including Grace, the young woman whose abandonment torments him still.

Then people start turning up dead.

Within this small Southern town, John Hart explores the lengths to which people will go for money, family, and pure greed—and whether or not forgiveness is ever attainable.

Adam Chase has spent the last five years in New York City futilely trying to erase his worst memories and pound into forgetfulness the scorn and abandonment of his family. Until a phone call from his best friend awakens in him a torrent of emotion and pain.

Having left North Carolina and its red soil for good, he never thought returning to town, certainly not a small Southern one, would be easy—but being remembered as a murderer didn’t help much. Within hours of arriving, Adam is beaten, accosted, harassed, and then confronted by his family, including Grace, a young woman whose abandonment torments him still.

Then people start turning up dead.

And Adam has a dark streak, a history of violence that predates his acquittal five years earlier. Everyone doubts. No one trusts, and he realizes that nothing has changed in five years. Even his family is closed to him.

With each page, emotions are torn ragged—family secrets brought to the surface, scorned lovers return, and townspeople who are engaged in a heated debate over a lucrative land deal are only too easily led across the brink of irrational behavior. Within this roiling small Southern town, John Hart tests the lengths to which people will go for money, family and pure greed—and just whether or not forgiveness is ever attainable.