The Devil and The River by R.J Ellory

In 1954, sixteen year old Nancy Denton went missing from her home town of Whytesburg, Mississippi. Twenty years later Sheriff John Gaines witnesses the discovery of a young woman unearthed from the riverbank, her body brought to the surface by a storm. It is Nancy, she was murdered and has been kept perfectly preserved in the mud for all that time. Gaines, who is haunted by his experiences in Vietnam, has to try and find out what happened, no easy task as the police at the time presumed she was a runaway as there was no evidence to prove foul play.

I've read all of Ellory's novels and even though I've enjoyed some a lot more than others he's still one of only a handful of authors whose books I like to read as soon as or not long after they're first published. I thought The Devil and The River was one of his better novels although not as good as A Quiet Belief In Angels which is one of my favourites and I think will be difficult for him to top. The writing in it is to his usual high standard and I raced through the last third to get to the conclusion. The only drawback for me is that I found some of the earlier flashback chapters to Gaines' time in Vietnam a little boring, yes that needed to be mentioned but there was too much of it. Other than that though a very good crime book that won't disappoint his fans.

Rating 4 out of 5.