River Road

November 23, 2015
At the start of this intense psychological thriller from Hammett Prize–winner Goodman (Arcadia Falls), creative writing professor Nan Lewis, who has just learned she’s been denied tenure at Acheron College in upstate New York, leaves a Christmas party distraught, fearing that her job and life are crumbling. She isn’t drunk, but she hits a deer on the way home on an isolated, snowy road. The next day, Nan learns that student Leia Dawson was killed on the same patch of road, which happens to be near where Nan’s four-year-old daughter, Emmy, was fatally struck by a drunk driver seven years earlier. Her damaged car with spots of blood makes Nan the initial suspect. Although she’s cleared, the investigation widens to other professors and students at Acheron. Just about everyone on campus, including the beloved Leia, turns out to have a hidden side. Goodman provides an insightful look at revenge, grief, and rebuilding one’s life after a horrific loss. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

January 1, 2016

Nan Lewis, a writing professor at an Upstate New York university, is accused of killing her favorite student, Leia, in a hit-and-run accident, but Nan insists that after leaving the faculty party she only hit a deer on that snowy night. Yes, she was angry that she didn't receive tenure. And yes, she may have had a few drinks that evening. But she knows it was a deer, right? Adding another layer of guilt to Nan is that her own young daughter was killed by a drunk driver a few years earlier, in the very same spot. As Nan tries to prove her innocence and identify the real killer and motive, she discovers that everyone around her, including Leia, is hiding secrets. In the midst of all this, add in a growing romantic attraction between Nan and the cop trying to arrest her, and you have a terrific psychological thriller that will keep readers guessing through every twist. VERDICT A murder mystery set in academia is not particularly original, but Goodman (The Lake of Dead Languages) gives this trope a fresh, gripping makeover. [See Prepub Alert, 7/27/15.]--Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2015
A series of deaths on a snowy road plunges a college professor into the middle of a mystery. Nan Lewis experienced an upsetting event--she was denied tenure--and she'd been drinking when she left a colleague's Christmas party only to hit a deer in the same spot where her small daughter was killed by a drunk driver years ago. Nan got out of the car to search for the deer but found nothing, so she drove her damaged car home. Later, the police detective who investigated her daughter's hit-and-run tells her that one of her prize students, Leia Dawson, a brilliant writer with a remarkable career ahead of her, was found dead in the snow at the same scene. The officer, Sgt. McAffrey, tells her that police need to examine her car to determine whether or not she hit Leia. Nan does have a drinking problem; even she admits that. The woman who hit Emmy, Hannah Mulder, was caught and punished, but nothing prepared Nan for the news of Leia's death or the implication that she had something to do with it. And she's not the only suspect: Ross, a professor with whom she'd had a relationship after her daughter's death, is also in police cross hairs. Goodman, a creative writing teacher and prolific novelist, has produced an uninspired story that hinges on a string of coincidences, a main character who isn't very interesting, and a romance that seems wedged into the story by force instead of naturally developing. Add to that a not-very-hard-to-spot baddie, despite copious red herrings littering the pages, and there's very little that's thrilling about this effort. A tired plot and the cliche of a heroine who does exactly what the police have asked her not to do make this a thin read.

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November 1, 2015
Driving home from a holiday party, at which she received upsetting news and drank more than two glasses of wine, creative-writing professor Nan Lewis takes a curve too fast and hits a deer. The next morning, the body of Leia Dawson, one of her favorite students, is found under the tire of her car, which was left in a ditch. Nan, whose four-year-old daughter, Emmy, was killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver seven years earlier at the same spot in the road, is suddenly a suspect and a pariah in her upstate New York town. Goodman, whose novels generally incorporate fantasy and the supernatural, grounds this one solidly in realism, except for Nan's brief glimpses and dreams of Emmy. Suspense builds first over the extent of Nan's guilt, then expands to reveal what really happened on that snowy night. While grief after losing a child and achieving forgiveness are at its core, this novel also touches on addiction, drugs, the writing process, the roles people play, and plagiarism in academe. With romance folded between scenes of deadly danger, this is an engrossing mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)