River of Darkness by Rennie Airth

Review by Vicky T (VickyJo)

I LOVE finding new authors.  I have lots of favorite authors, and in reality, there are very few writers that I can say, “I’ve read everything he/she has written.”  So I shouldn’t be looking for new people.  But I always do.  And I’m always thrilled to find someone that I really enjoy.

I just finished the book “River of Darkness” by Rennie Airth, a journalist from South Africa who has written a wonderful murder mystery set in England in 1921.

I immediately took a liking to the main character, John Madden.  You just feel for this poor man.  He lost his wife and baby daughter during the influenza epidemic.  He went off and fought in World War One, seeing even more death, and coming home with physical and psychological reminders of the horror of war.  He is accepted back at Scotland Yard, and is now once again an inspector.  He’s trying to find, at the least, some meaning to life.  Finding joy or happiness is probably too much to ask for.

When five people in one household are brutally murdered in a small village in Surrey, Inspector Madden is sent to begin the investigation.  He examines the site, sets up a few constables to begin questioning the locals, and meets with the village doctor, the beautiful Helen Blackwell.  She reveals an amazing twist: the killer didn’t know it, but the murdered family’s young daughter Sophy was hidden in the house, and may have seen something.  However, she is so traumatized that she cannot speak.

Gradually, more details come out; what at first seemed like a robbery gone wrong now looks to be not a robbery at all, but a deliberate slaughter.  But why this family?  And why was Sophy’s mother killed in a different manner than all the other victims?

This novel made me realize how much modern police work depends upon DNA evidence, psychological profiling, and forensic science.  The author takes us back to a time before all that, when murders had to be solved with old-fashioned police work.  No labs, no running tests….just finding people, interviewing them, and using one’s imagination to try and put oneself into the killer’s shoes.  In fact, when Madden suggests bringing in a psychologist to examine the evidence, he is ridiculed and the idea is forbidden by his superiors!

While the higher-ups in the Yard believe this crime to have been committed by a gang of robbers, Madden knows it’s just one man.  A man who has had military experience.  For when it is revealed that the killing wounds were made with a bayonet…a correctly used bayonet….Madden finds himself delving into memories he’d rather not resurrect in order to stop this madman.  Madden needs to make significant headway before he is pulled from the case, and his carefully constructed theories are pushed aside.  Because the reader learns that Madden is right: it is one man, and he will strike again.  In fact, he’s already planning his second hit.

This book is full of English countryside atmosphere, solid characters, and has a well-thought out story.  I found myself anxiously hoping Madden would see the clues, pick up on the subtle mistakes the killer made.  The tension mounts as a break in the case just might allow Madden to save the killer’s next targeted victims.

I loved this book.  The writing was strong, solid; the story sucked me in right away, and I found it hard to put down.  And what’s even better, Airth has written two more novels about John Madden, A Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Dead of Winter.  I give his work a solid 5 stars.

Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Reviews, Book Suggestions

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