American Drifter

by Heather Graham, Chad Michael Murray

A young veteran of the US Army, River Roulet is struggling to shake the horrors of his past. War is behind him, but the memories remain. Desperate to distract himself from the images haunting him daily, River abandons the world he knows and flees to the country he's always dreamed of visiting: Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro is everything he hoped for and more. In the lead-up to Carnaval, the city is alight with music, energy, and life. With a few friends at his side, River seems to be pulling his life together at last.

Then he meets the enchanting Natal, an impassioned journalist and free spirit--who lives with the gangster that rules much of Rio.

As their romance blossoms, River and Natal flee together into the interior of Brazil, where they are pursued by the sadistic drug lord, Tio Amato, and his men. When River is forced to kill one of those men, the chase becomes even deadlier. Not only is the powerful drug boss after them, the Brazilian government is on their trail as well.

Will the two lovers escape--and will River ever be free of the bloody memories that haunt him?

This audiobook adventure is equal parts passion and suspense, enhanced by the vivid backdrop of Brazil

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 14, 2017

About the author

Also published as Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.

Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.

Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Reviews

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا]

The handsome Chad Michael Murray co-wrote a book! Feels like Lucas Scott from One Tree Hill!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Drifter by Heather Graham and Chad Michael Murray was a very pleasant find.

The novel is about River, an American war veteran battling PTSD while visiting and touring Rio De Janeiro. River has been staying in a local hostel and has been befriended by the owner of the hostel, the hostel maid and a local man happy with just getting by.

River is afflicted with flashbacks and nightmares, while trying to enjoy his time in Rio De Janeiro in the best ways that he can.

River becomes enamored with a local, mysterious, beautiful young woman Natal while running afoul of a local drug kingpin.

American Drifter is an enjoyable crime thriller that keeps the reader engaged and is an excellent, fun novel to read for enjoyment.

The ending comes along with a touching surprise that is neither unbelievable or contrived.

Very recommended.

[Marilena ⚓ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν γινόταν να γράψει βιβλίο ο αγαπημένος μου Chad και να μη το διαβάσω!!!

Ήξερα ότι δεν είχε καλές κριτικές και ήμουν προετοιμασμένη αλλά είναι το πρώτο του βιβλίο και είπα ας του δώσω μια ευκαιρία!

Αρχικά να πω οτι σε καμία περίπτωση δεν ειναι θρίλερ,θα το έλεγα μυστήριο με αρκετά ρομαντικά στοιχεία.Η γραφή του ήταν καλή για πρώτη προσπάθεια,σαν να τον άκουγες να παίζει στην τηλεόραση(αυτό μου έβγαλε).Η ιστορία δεν είναι κάτι το ιδιαίτερο,δυστυχώς ήξερα τι θα γινόταν σχεδόν απο την αρχή.Ήθελα να το αγαπήσω,αλλά αυτό δεν συνέβη.
Δεν συνδέθηκα με τους χαρακτήρες,μου φάνηκαν αδιάφοροι,ακόμα και ο πρωταγωνιστής..


Να πω οτι η βαθμολογία είναι χαριστική,θα του έβαζα χαμηλότερη αλλα ο Lucas Scott είναι το νούμερο ένα αγόρι μου οπότε καταλαβαίνεται!(Όσοι βλέπατε One Tree Hill ξέρετε).

[Sierra Abrams]

i'm fascinated. murray??? really?! the last celebrity i ever expected to write a book. i'm actually fairly excited! XD

[Camile Souza (This Chamber of Books)]

Omg this is for real, I'm laughing so hard. I saw the synopsis for this on Twitter, but I honestly thought it was a joke, or a fake news thing.

River goes to Rio (which literally means "river" in portuguese), meets a girl named Natal (literally Christmas), who lives with ding ding ding... a drug lord (Tio Amato, what the hell kind of name is that? Tio means "uncle", Amato idk it sounds like "lover" in Italian or something). This makes it very hard to believe any research was even done, at all (and when I say research, I mean simply googling the names).

Also, Carnival, Rio, drug lord, rainforest... there's probably soccer or some mulata dancing samba somewhere in it I'm sure, can't miss one if you already have all the other clichés, right? Hahah

Sorry if I sound mean, guys, not the intention, seriously. I'm not even mad, I'm actually laughing cause this sounds so absurd it's hilarious. I even wanna read the book now, I'm sure I'll lol a lot

[Trianna/Treereads · Rating 2 out of 5]

psa if you market a book as a "thriller" something has to actually happen in the first 100 pages.

Also, don't put a plot twist in the synopsis, especially if it doesn't happen until page 140.

[emerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Until the government and the people stop discerning between color, faith, and original ethnicity, not all Americans will truly be free."

[Andrea Meier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The AudioBook is narrated by Chad Micheal Murray. Enough said!!

[Lilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'd at page 60. :/
I don't often read this genre, I picked it up because I just wanted to try something new. I'm familiar with the actor who wrote it, he was in Gilmore Girls and A Cinderella Story. Probably wouldn't have ever read this if it was written by anyone else.
I didn't enjoy it very much. There were a lot of distracting confusions, and I felt like I wasn't reading the story I was promised. The cover is confusing too, it doesn't match the tone of the book very well from what I read.
Firstly, this is not much of a thriller. I was 1/6th of the way through and everyone was just prancing around Rio, stopping to smell every rose in sight, and then describing it in factual detail. There wasn't much emotion, and the dialogue almost felt like it was put through google Translate... It was strange. I didn't like how I couldn't imagine any of the character's voices, either. They all spoke the same way.
It kind of felt like this was unfinished, too, because it was randomly repetitive. Sometimes the same word would even be repeated within a single sentence, like "exquisite" and "exquisitely."
Those are mostly just technical issues that I noticed, but they all have an impact because it made the story feel very manufactured.
Even if those issues were fixed though, I wasn't a fan of the story itself. The main character only described his experiences, not his thoughts and feelings. It was kind of like a movie script. You didn't get to know what was going on in his head most of the time. Every problem he encountered was given a solution within the same paragraph, so there wasn't any conflict at all which made it feel like everything was butterflies and rainbows. He was supposed to be a war veteran recovering from PTSD, but I didn't see that at all save for the nightmares.
It was so strange! The only reason I made it to page 60 was that I was curious where the story was heading, and I couldn't tell whether I liked the writing or not. It's written like a flashback is normally written, and I was thinking that maybe that was just the style, but eventually it started to weird me out. XD
Sorry book!

Started Dec 7th 2017, DNF'd Dec 8th 2017

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between three and four stars. Entertaining. I'm curious about Heather Graham's other books because I will admit that a good chunk of my decision to pick this up was due to Chad Michael Murray's involvement and that I recognized her name.

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I chose to read American Drifter for two reasons. 1 - It was listed (even on the front cover) as a thriller. 2 - Good Read readers gave it almost a 4 star rating. This is my first Heather Graham novel so I cannot compare to any of her own novels and I've not heard of Chad Michael Murray, this being his debut. (I do not watch prime time TV but he was very cute on the back cover.) I HATE writing 1 star reviews as I know that 1. there will always be readers that might not read the book due to my review and 2. I know that all authors love their work and I do respect the time that they put into writing a book. Lots of reviews wer 4-5 stars but this book did nothing for me. I realize I am in the minority for not liking this book but as much as I wanted to like it, I didn't. It was very far from being a thriller; it was more of a romance which is not my typical genre of choice. I did not care for the writing style; it was choppy and stilted and repetitive. The continually same short descriptions of Rio got to be boring.

Trying to lose the remnants of war and suffering for PTSD, River Roulet (the name was very Harlequinn-esque) heads to Rio (Brasil) to lose himself in another culture; he meets a woman and falls in list - deeply. At one point of the story I was impressed with the amount of Brasilian history that was told. The ending (groan) did nothing to redeem the story for me; at that point it just failed to impress me. Too many repetitions and cliches for me.

[court ౨ৎ librarycutie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I started this on a whim because I wanted something to listen to, and I couldn’t pass it up knowing heart-throb himself, Chad Michael Murray, narrated American Drifter that he co-wrote. I didn’t know a whole lot about the story and didn’t expect it to be like anything that I read but oh-my-wow, this is a very intriguing story with a gorgeous man narrating it. I honestly pictured Chad as the main character, River.

River is in Rio, an ex-military guy crashing at a friends house and picking up a stray. This is an exhilarating story about love, murder, and discovery. I found myself getting really interested about halfway through and I was hooked, I needed to know what happened and why I thought this girl was so sketchy.

By the end of the book, my mouth was hanging out and catching bugs from my shock. I didn’t see it coming, how could I? It’s beautifully written and I am so proud of Chad and Heather for writing this. I recommend if you’re wanting to read something short but hooking and poetic… Honestly if you think Chad Michael Murray isn’t going to have a poetic guy as his main character, DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS? The characters I know him playing as are handsome, tough, poetic and deep, and know how to love a woman.

[Αγάπη Μπουντούρη · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of my most anticipated releases for 2017 and unfortunately I didn't like it.
That being said, the story seemed to be all over the place at the best of times, and the characters, though likable, had few admirable qualities or anything to make them really unique.But I must say the ending had a jaw dropping situation that I didn't expect! And as fan of Chad I can fill in that the writing style was one of the things that kept me from DNFing this book.

[Laura Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I recently found out that Chad Michael Murray co-wrote a book I knew I had to check it out. Then I saw that he read the autobook and I was all in! I do not listen to many books but really enjoyed listening to this one. Chad is so expressive in his reading and just brought this book to life.

This genre is a little different then what I typically read but I throughly enjoyed the book! It’s a thriller with more romance in it than I expected so I was happy. It was great to go on adventure to Brazil and learn about the country. The ending of this book was so surprising and one I never saw coming.

I recommend this to those who enjoy romantic suspense.
Make sure you do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook for this one!

[Rohit Gurunath Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about, A young veteran of the US Army, River Roulet is struggling to shake the horrors of his past. War is behind him, but the memories remain. Desperate to distract himself from the images haunting him daily, River abandons the world he knows and flees to the country he's always dreamed of visiting: Brazil.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay.... The only good thing really was Chad Michael Murray. :P

[Ang -PNR Book Lover Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come!

[Kim Scandura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. Ending did big twist I didn’t expect. And I cried like baby!

[Marie-Rose Desautels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like I lost my time reading it. No real plot, a whole of repetitions and an horrible finale.

[Eddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 Stars (I'm being generous with the extra half star). Thank goodness there's audio books, I would not have been able to finish this book if I was reading it. I chose the book because it was free from the public library thank goodness and because the title sounded good. Although the photo on the cover really doesn't match the story even closely (and I questioned that even before reading it) I liked the title. I did some research into the author who's some rando d-list actor with three names I've never heard of. This is a huge red flag for me b/c actors are just organ grinding dancing monkeys of no intelligence (and you need some brains to write something decent). I was very hesitant reading/listening from a D lister millenial actor I never heard of, but I read the synopsis and I have family in Brazil and I've been to Brazil so I went for it. Some of the reviews here have said this is like an action book that the action doesn't happen until like 400th page (which is stupid). This book is just a lot of endlessly repetitive descriptions of the same thing over and over again. It's repetitive and a book about a veteran written by two people who've never served in the military let alone combat arms writing about it is a recipe for failure (and the authors delivered on the failure). What happened to write what you know? Not here. This alone should be a no-go because there's plenty of books written by veterans. Tom Clancy wasn't a veteran but he wrote some good books with intense research, so I gave this turd a shot. This completely matched my hesitation - lame book written by randos (and 2 authors is another red flag).

Somebody who's never served, writing about the military and PTSD which they have no idea about is embarrassing. Protagonist suddenly has a gun in Brazil his "service gun" - what a joke the colloquialism "service pistol" is hardly said by veterans. The author must have heard that term that in some how to write military or something. "My service pistol" guys in the military don't really go around saying that. They would simply say "my Beretta, my M9" military guys don't say "my service pistol" they might say that once explaining it to a newbie, but they wouldn't repeat it over and over and over again like the three named actor/author did.

As it turns out the whole book was just a giant dream sequence going in circles. If this book wasn't on audiobook (and there was many times I was going to drop the audiobook and not even finish, but I like to finish things I start which is not always a good thing). Remarkably the book got worse, especially at the end. A fabricated ending/conclusion that needed to be explained like it was a bad young adult coming of age book where the end needed to be explained for tweens. This was cringeworthy bad! I am certainly never going to read another book by these 'authors'. A novel written by an actor, let alone some millennial actor I've never heard of that was on a show I've never heard of. Want excellent novellas written by an actor? Read novellas by Steve Martin.

I don't even know if it's worth 1.5 Stars. If you're reading and not audiobooking; good luck! you're never going to get through it this turd. It could have been done in half the time, in fact this could have been a short story. But writing a short story takes talent, which these authors don't have. You'd have to condense it which it could have been done, but said 3 name author doesn't have the talent to do, that so they made an 8-hour+ book that could have been done in less than half the time. In fact it could have been done as a short story if they deleted the endless over and over repetitive descriptions of everybody saying and seeing the same thing. The book is basically 80% describing the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio over and over again (and over).

The protagonist is a veteran and described like a master of hand-to-hand combat lmao. Like everybody that's a veteran is a master in hand to hand combat which is the furthest thing from the truth. And he's like some crack shot! Was he a Green Beret, a Ranger, Delta Force? Nope just a 'veteran'. A book written by a three named actor who's never served he has no idea of the military. This book was an embarrassment - I was embarrassed at the end hoping nobody could overhear what I was listening to.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Very surprised by the ending. I cried at the end. I hope Chad Michael Murray writes more books.

[Debbie]

I reviewed this title for Library Journal and you can read my published review there

[Briana Alzola · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't great but it was pretty good. There were some repetive parts where I felt like the descriptions could be cut down/smoothed out. (If I had heard the phrase "free spirit" one more time, I may have shut the book for good) but in general, it had an interesting story and I liked hearing about Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. I also thought it had a good twist at the end.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I couldn't connect with this book at all. The writing style feels like it needs improvement and the tone feels... immature. If someone told me that the 15 year old daughter of a book editor wrote this and their parent got it published I would have believed it.

[Jenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young veteran of the US Army, River Roulet is struggling to shake the horrors of his past. War is behind him, but the memories remain. Desperate to distract himself from the images haunting him daily, River abandons the world he knows and flees to the country he's always dreamed of visiting: Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro is everything he hoped for and more. In the lead-up to Carnaval, the city is alight with music, energy, and life. With a few friends at his side, River seems to be pulling his life together at last.

Then he meets the enchanting Natal, an impassioned journalist and free spirit--who lives with the gangster that rules much of Rio.

As their romance blossoms, River and Natal flee together into the interior of Brazil, where they are pursued by the sadistic drug lord, Tio Amato, and his men. When River is forced to kill one of those men, the chase becomes even deadlier. Not only is the powerful drug boss after them, the Brazilian government is on their trail as well.

Will the two lovers escape--and will River ever be free of the bloody memories that haunt him?


A stunning, heart aching love story.

I had been fan of CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY since he appeared on One Tree Hill and when I found out that he Co-wrote a book, I knew that I had to check it out. Romance, thriller seemed like my type of book. I didn’t have high expectations when I picked the book, since it was Chad’s first book, and I never read book by HEATHER GRAHAM before picking up this one. Did not take me long into I was hooked into the story. I ended up reading it most of the night, I didn’t want to put it down. There wasn’t a page, a chapter where something wasn’t happening. I got so observed in River’s adventures and I wanted to see where it would take him, if he would be able to escape the past that was haunting him. I also wondered if he would return back home or if he would remain in Brazil.


Not only did I love the names, River and Natal, which are most unique names that I came across in a book. I loved the relationship between the two of them, it was clear for me how the two of them fell about each other, even before they admitted it. I believe that River was more at peace when he was with Natal, she made him forget what he faced while he was in military, for a while. The adventures that Natal and River went on while in Brazil, most of them sounded breathtaking. I never been to Brazil, and while I read AMERICAN DRIFTER I imagined that I was there, along with River and Natal. Their journey seemed magical. At least most of it was, up until towards the end. I did not expect that twist at the end, it came as complete shock to me. I couldn’t help but wonder which part of adventures that River went while in Brazil were real. That ending added a bit more mystery to the story.

AMERICAN DRIFTER was a first book I read by HEATHER GRAHAM and I heard a lot about author and now I see why. I am eager to pick up the other books that she had written now. As for CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY astonishing debut novel and I am hoping that he writes more in future. If you love romance with suspense and thriller in mix, I would highly recommend AMERICAN DRIFTER .

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Drifter gives you a view about South American, veterans and tragic losses all wrapped in a fast-paced love affair that can rock you to your very core. Chad Michael and Heather Graham co-authors of this book, work as a great team giving layers to the book, giving it it’s Romance and fast-paced thriller appel. Not only do you gravitate with the thoughts of River, the protagonist but also how one man feels about wrongdoings and against the world in the difficulty to make any remark of a difference.

River after a short career in the military moved to South American, where he marvels at its beauty and lives life by the day. However, once he falls for this woman of mystery he starts down a path that only leads to darkness. River battling all emotions continues to do the right thing because maybe that’s all he has but in South American the right thing is not always easy. One ramification of such action is not always received well, River after being knocked down always finds a way to get back up and keep moving through motivation and a little fear he shows this theme to be strong and evident in his actions.

Using sequence and action puts this book on the thriller list, by building on old memories and feelings of River we gain what other books strive for, that is the sense of being in the book which comes with many details and time have taken to explain the events in full without losing action, or pace. Plus having fear for River and hoping he comes out ok only adds to the on the edge factor.

River finds his love, which might be a problem since before him she had found hers. Which starts the battle between the protagonist River and the antagonist Tio who becomes River’s sole focus and the main conflict. River who just lives by the day is knocked down over and over again with internal conflicts and wrestling with how to stand up to Tio. But to remember every time he is knocked down or comes to a standstill he finds a way to continue that is resonated throughout the entirety of the book, which in turn gives a theme. To say that the ending is expected could not be further from the truth, in the climax the authors give answers to questions we have been asking from the beginning and a twist that could not be seen even though the deepest search. In the end, the resolution gives closer to a broken heart and leaves the reader wanting more of River and stirring with a certain hope, but also a whiff of intrigue in the last sentence.

River is what we see and feel which leaves us only know him, but he does change. Starting with seeing the beauty of South American and him leaving also knowing the evil that lives in such places. He knows the right thing and always does it, but, being pushed to the brink lits a match that to some might have been wrong. Finally finding his love only to lose it once again.

In my opinion, it is a great book, exempting two things from chapter one to about one-fourth in it talks about a statute which is very cool and an extreme work of craftsmanship but plays a minimal part in the rest of the book. Secondly, that part is also slow with little action and pretty much just setting up the charters which we learn quite a bit about but not that much is needed.

[Lynz Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel so many emotions right now that I don't even know how to give this book a proper review.

I saw this book on my Libby App. I commute to work, so I like to listen to audio books and I was searching through my favorite authors when I came across this book. I love Heather Graham, I've been reading her since I was a teenager, so let's just say for several years plus 10 more or so. :)

Of course when you see the name Chad Michael Murray on the book that really peaked my interest. I've liked him as an actor since One Tree Hill. Heck I liked him back in Gilmore girls. He has a great voice, very expressive.

As an audio book-Chad did an awesome job reading the book. I wasn't so sure initially but it didn't take me long to get drawn into the book and soon I found myself listening to the book on weekends, when I cleaned the kitchen, at work during slow periods, any time so I could keep with the story and find out what happens between River and Natal.

I didn't read the reviews of this book until I hit Chapter 18 because I HAD to know what happened between River and Natal. So if you are like me, you read about a major twist in chapter 20. There is a major twist. At that point, my mind started to think of what could the twist be. Because I cheated I sort of saw it coming but not really.

Some people might object that this isn't a love story, but it is. It's about a man who will follow the love of his life anywhere and do anything for her. His mind is fragile from the war and more and so some things might seem repetitive but once you listen through the whole book it will all make sense.

For those who didn't finish the book, shame on you, because this book was beautiful. I don't think I could have read this book and I don't mean that in a bad way. There are several books that I have not been able to get into by reading and enjoy it more as audio. This book was beautiful as an audio book. Chad speaks with so much passion and emotion and he is so expressive in his words that it made the book all that much better.

I read a few reviews where people asked for a sequel. But there doesn't need to be one. In the end, everyone got their happily ever after. Was it the one we thought it would be? No. But this book had a very realistic happily every after, not a fairy tale one.

I won't lie. I just finishe listening to the book (at work, because I couldn't wait for my drive home) and yes, I cried my eyes out. Have tissues on hand.

I don't want to say too much because even through sometimes, yes, I like spoilers, I feel like it will give away everything if you know what happens in the end, but know that it is worth it.

As to the style, I feel like this book was maybe more Chad than Heather. I've read enough of Heather's books, I'm familiar with the way she writes and this was different. Either way, try this book out, and if you can get the audio, trust me, it will blow you away.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I’m not sure how to review this. The ending changed my mind about some of it but not all by a long shot. But here’s how I felt during the vast majority of the story:

There is so much telling at the beginning. At least it’s interesting. It's not a thriller though, at least not until a third of the way through. The supporting characters are wonderful and enjoyable. The author gave a good kind of description—who the person is and what they are like and just enough of their appearance to picture them and it helped understand where the person came from.

I didn’t like the main characters at all. I think this is supposed to be a love for the ages but I never bought it. I just didn’t care. Natal is icky, untrustworthy, manipulative and selfish. (At one point she says she never hurts anyone with her crimes. What she doesn’t understand is that just taking from them is hurtful. It is horrible to be stolen from. It’s violating. But she hurts people just by being around them. She hurts River a lot. )

River, is judgmental, self-righteous, hypocritical and untrustworthy too. His also is so obsessed with this awful woman that he was willing to die. He doesn’t even know her when his obsession starts. Looking at it from a normal woman’s perspective, it’s creepy.

I didn’t really like the writing style either. It fit the story but I didn’t enjoy it. I also didn’t like the stereotypical and wrong PTSD. I can’t find anything on the web about the way this is portrayed with him waking up and holding a gun on his friends.

The twist at the end is what saved the book for me. Until then it was kind of boring.

This book didn't really urge me to read anything else by this author. I read it because I’d enjoyed one book she wrote and part of another although there were things that annoyed me and similar stuff bothered me here too. But this is different from her usual stuff and it makes me think she’s more versatile than I thought.

The reader was pretty good. His intonation, his meter, but he hardly did any accents at all. And when he did, it was the characters who previously had no accent. It would be nice to have those who barely spoke English have a Brazilian accent.

[Teresa LaBella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a writer having a difficult time finding words that will adequately give this haunting tale the justice it delivered and deserves.

An excerpt on Book Daily of a street scene in Rio de Janeiro hooked me to read the story of River Roulet, a US Army veteran running from the horrors of war he carries with him. River steals a starving dog from an abusive owner, names his new friend Convict, and convinces his old friend Beluga to let the dog stay with River at the hostel Beluga owns. Thus begins the introduction to the rainbow of characters that color River's world and populate his artist's sketchbook. Theo, the cheerful, optimistic loser at the racetrack who dreams of wealth he'll give away and savors half-smoked, discarded cigarettes. Tio Amato, the evil drug lord who terrorizes the neighborhoods where he builds fountains. And Natal, the mysterious, free spirit beauty who seems to shape shift in and out of River's life long enough for him to fall in love with her and risk anything to be with her.

Although written in third person, the authors put the reader in River's head. We experience the kinetic energy of Rio leading up to Carnaval, feel the heat radiating off the white beach sand and dive in to cool off, hear the tourists ooh and ahh at the spectacular views revealed on the ride up the mountain to the outstretched arms of the iconic Christ the Redeemer, sleep in the grass of a farmer's field and run through the Brazilian rain forest. And we realize that all he sees may not be as it seems.

PTSD, poverty, justice, friendship and the powerful link between pain and love. It's all here in the pages of an exceptionally good read.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I just read?! I'm not even sure anymore, lol.

I was working on a book project, and I noticed the abundance of Heather Graham novels on the library shelves. I had never read anything by the author, but then the co-author of this title caught my eye, and I thought why not?

A few days later I was streaming the audio book, read by Chad Michael murray, thinking that I was listening to a pretty straightforward story that didn't really seem to be going anywhere. A few hours later I noticed that there was a guy named River, in Rio, who possibly saw a dead body being dumped into a river, who left Rio, then went looking for a river, and then returned to Rio. Maybe the whole time that I thought that nothing was happening in the story, that actually was the story. Only it was just about him returning to himself?

Obviously there was a really big twist, but was the payoff really worth it? I mean, what even actually happened at the end? At first I thought, okay he's imagining then being there, but then I thought maybe they're actually there visiting him as ghosts or Angels or something, but then they were talking about making pancakes, and even if the spirits of the departed can visit you, they don't make pancakes for breakfast! So, then we're back to theory number one. Whatever, it just wasn't for me.

On the plus side, you get to a virtual trip to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, and an introspective mysterious book with a big twist. Overall, it was just okay.