The Gorge

Berger (The Most Necessary Luxuries: The Mercers’ Company of Coventry, 1550–1680) effectively makes use of his experience as a licensed whitewater raft guide in his impressive fiction debut, set in the Adirondack Mountains. When the Hudson Gorge, “one of the toughest whitewater runs in the northeast,” becomes the scene of two murders for an unclear motive, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation taps Richard Carlyle, a professor of the history of crime who was once a guide on the river, to investigate the deaths of two guides, Art Sanders and Chris Blake. They died in apparent drowning accidents in less than a week, but evidence soon surfaces that foul play was involved. The netting that should have kept Sanders from being swept out of his boat was cut, and a log was moved into Blake’s path, striking him in the face and knocking him into the river. Berger inserts scenes from the unnamed killer’s perspective, ratcheting up the tension. Paul Doiron fans will be pleased. (Self-published)