River Road

Nan Lewis is driving home from a faculty holiday party at the university in upstate New York where she works after learning she has been denied tenure. Upset and tired, she's startled when she hits a deer, but even more startled when, after exiting the car, she can't locate the animal. Nan eventually gives up, instead heading home, eager to avoid the ensuing snowstorm. The next morning she is woken with the news that one of her students was hit by a car and killed – in the same location as her accident with the deer. Nan, as a result of the damage to her car, is a suspect. Shunned by the school community and haunted by memories of her daughter's accident at the same spot six years earlier, Nan must investigate to clear her name. ********I really enjoyed Goodman's [b:The Lake of Dead Languages 120274 The Lake of Dead Languages Carol Goodman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320554718s/120274.jpg 3159707] so I was eager to dive into this one. It's a face-paced read, with twists and turns coming fast and hard almost from the start. The writing was atmospheric and moody, though the constant descriptions of trudging through snow got repetitive after a while. My biggest struggle with this novel was entirely wrapped up in the plot. There are enough characters with secrets to entertain the idea the idea that any one of them could have been the murderer, but I figured out the “whodunit” fairly early on. Even worse, the murderer gave quite the melodramatic monologue explaining their dastardly plot. There was a touch of a romantic story line that, surprisingly, didn't feel forced. Unfortunately, I didn't like Nan, as she was a bit of a snob, looking down on her fellow coworkers and being surprised that the police officer investigating her student's death was a reader. Ultimately this book was an okay read but wasn't my favorite by Goodman.