Sophia's Reviews > The Night the River Wept

A bored housewife trying to get through a personal grief and a struggling marriage minds fulfillment investigating a triple murder and the suspect’s subsequent suicide. After the debut of The Floating Girls and my recent interest in Southern Fiction, I was keen to pick up the latest release from Lo Patrick. While something of a different animal when it comes to story, The Night the River Wept reprised the author’s wry style of writing, a full immersion for the reader into the setting, an engagement of senses and emotions, and a twisting path to the reveal.

The Night the River Wept exercised a push-pull on me from the get-go. I didn’t fully warm to the story, but at the same time, I was aware the writing was really good.
The reason for my struggle was the main protagonist, Arlene. I got used to her and was settled into acceptance by the end. In the beginning, however, Arlene danced on my nerves. I felt guilty about this because the woman had lost her child and lost her way as a result. She’s a bored housewife and wants a job as a detective to stave off boredom (she ends up getting hired part-time to tag and store evidence). She married her high school sweetheart, Tommy, who drinks heavily, golfs, and yearns for the country club life.
Tommy and Arlene are small potatoes in the big wide world outside their Northern Georgia town, but Tommy is recently wealthy real estate developer (this comes in all capital letters and a big shining marquee in his own mind). He wants in on the area high society group and Arlene just won’t get with the program which causes contention.
Instead, she’s content to work for the local police in a low-paid position with grandiose ideas of being the detective who solves a twenty year old cold case once she realizes the office gal has a connection to the deceased suspect. And, her coworker is unconvinced to this day that Mitchell had it in him to murder three young boys. Reading through reports, papers, and sifting evidence keeps Arlene busy, but is she also stirring up the dark shadows where the true murderer might lurk if Mitchell was innocent?

There are several complex elements addressed in this one and some not always handled in a way I was comfortable. I will say that I get that everyone processes grief differently. In Arlene and Tommy’s case, they get almost flippant about their miscarriage though I suspect this was meant for a defense mechanism. Arlene gets lost in her head a lot and I was okay with it, but sometimes just wanted things to move along. There’s a class difference ‘wrong side of the tracks’ side to the murder investigation that was sad. And, of course a marriage that was rocky, but Arlene wanted to work at it.

The story is a split timeline piece with Arlene’s narration anchoring the contemporary end and her investigation including the diary of the suspect, Mitchell Wright’s sister Natalie’s diary having some narration that shows the 1983 time frame. And, then there are little forays into the murder’s point of view. The past murder was dark and tragic and those ominous atmospheric overtones the author is great at writing just added to the tension as the cold case mystery developed and revealed.

In the end, I had mixed feelings. I was glad to have read The Night the River Wept, but I like The Floating Girls better. Lo Patrick has found her niche writing Southern Fiction and making her book a full-sensory reading experience. Those who can read a story with flawed character protagonists and a cross between women’s fiction and mystery should give this a try.

I rec'd an eARC via NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post at Caffeinated Reviewer 8.21.24.