The River

The River
By Mary Jane Beaufrand
Little, Brown and Co., 2010. 215 pgs. Young Adult

Ronnie can’t wait for the day she is back in Portland and, therefore, back to Starbucks, hip clothing stores, and cultured events. In the meantime, she runs, helps out at her parents’ inn, and is friends with Karen, a ten-year-old adventurer who Ronnie babysits sometimes. Then one morning, Ronnie finds Karen dead, murdered, in the moody river that runs through town. Devastated, Ronnie cannot leave Karen’s death alone, and at the prompting of the river, looks into who and why Karen was killed. This realistic portrait of a young woman torn apart by her friend’s death is a somewhat depressing (but good) read, made more haunting by the sad and troubling circumstances surrounding the murder.

MN