Sibella Giorello delivers her second Special Agent Raleigh Harmon novel, The Rivers Run Dry, transplanting Raleigh to Seattle in a disciplinary action by her former boss for her conduct in the story The Stones Cry Out. Tenacious as the infamous Pit Bull with lipstick, Raleigh faces the disdain of an egotistical supervisor in a missing rich girl case that intersects with gambling addictions, high stakes poker games, old coal mining shafts and tunnels, terrorism, a clairvoyant, and other local law enforcement agencies.
When Courtney VanAlstyne’s Land Rover is found abandoned in the parking lot outside of Issaquah around the trailhead of Cougar Mountain, the local police department calls in the FBI for help with possible forsensics. It seems Courtney’s parents are extremely wealthy and have friends in high places which means the attention to the case becomes high priority much to the irritation of Raleigh’s supervisor Jack who views it as trivial compared to his concentration on terrorism.
When the parents insist on certain parameters for the investigation, the secrets begin to surface exposing the links between the missing girl and all kinds of gambling connections along with the massive bailouts paid by her father for her accumulated debts.
Raleigh and her emotionally fragile mother live with Raleigh’s loony Aunt Charlotte who invokes Clair the Clairvoyant to help Raleigh with her case. Adding moments of humor to the dread and suspense of following the leads in this strangely developing case, Clair proves to be a quirky background contributor to the particulars of this unusual case.
If you haven’t read The Stones Cry Out, you won’t need to do so to enjoy The Rivers Run Dry, but I highly recommend that you do to get the heads up on Raleigh Harmon from the beginning. With both stories told in first person POV through Raleigh’s eyes, the reader experiences her searing pain regarding her father’s unsolved murder which plagues her thoughts though she does her best to conceal them. Sibella has created a tough but tender, emotionally complex woman who struggles with authority when it interferes with her sense of duty and purpose. Her faith is solid but shaky at the same time, understated in her environment.
I will say I missed the romance in this novel—there is none. I still have feelings for her first love which she blew off in the first story even after he saved her life. Her mother mentioned his name once in this novel, so I’m thinkin’ maybe in the next book?
Sibella creates sights, sounds, smells, and textures with her writing. Vivid metaphors with a few laugh out loud moments run like a river through this novel. She’s a quality writer (Pulitzer material with her journalism) and leaves no stones unturned in the plot. Forgive me, I couldn’t resist the puns.
You like solid mysteries with building tensions, twists and turns, with intelligent characterization and just plain good writing: read The Rivers Run Dry. Sibella lives in Issaquah and did a great job of describing Seattle and the surrounding areas. One negative: I still can’t figure out the cover. It’s attractive but meaningless to me.
Father, you know Sibella’s heart, you designed her marvelous skills. Please continue your blessings upon her life and the efforts she makes to honor you with her writing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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