River, Sing Out

A Novel

By: James Wade

Narrated by: Roger Clark

Attempting to escape his abusive father and generations of cyclical poverty, young Jonah Hargrove joins the mysterious River - a teenage girl carrying thousands of dollars in stolen meth - and embarks on a Southern Gothic odyssey through the East Texas river bottoms.

They are pursued by local drug kingpin, John Curtis, and his murderous enforcer, Dakota Cade, with whom River was romantically involved. But Cade and Curtis have their own enemies, as their relationship with the cartel controlling their meth supply begins to sour.

Keeping tabs on everyone is The Thin Man, a silent assassin who values consequence over mercy.

Each person is keeping secrets from the others - deadly secrets that will be exposed in savage fashion as their final paths collide, and all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.

With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into a sinister and sanguinary world, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.

©2021 James Wade (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Really good book!!

I love the narrator of this audiobook! His voice fits so well with the storyline and characters! This was a very good book, sad but good! This is my second book by James Wade. His stories are interesting and well written. The writing is descriptive and detailed! I would recommend this book!

Not what I was looking for but still pleasantly surprised.

A compelling story to be sure. Not an action or drama exactly as it is heavily intoned with poetic philosophy but still I was not disappointed at the end.

Fantastic

Very Cormack McCarthy I’m a way it doesn’t pull any punches yet retains philosophical, almost meditative side to it that is often lost in modern day works of literature. A true treasure!

Would make an excellent movie!

Heartbreaking and eye opening, it is a portrait of the world we live in today. A fantastic read!

A beautiful book written by a wonderful wordsmith .a book with beauty seldom encountered encountered in a world of written wo

A Beautiful book written by a wonderful wordsmith seldom encountered in this world of the written word. Truly a joy to find.

Kinda Slow

I only got this book because I like the narrator. I like the way his voice sounds. That being said, this story was sort of bleak and boring. It was unnecessarily slow at times and just straight up bad at others. If you like pointless philosophy and not really much else, I'd recommend this book. the ending was anticlimactic as well. Also I get that the characters are supposed to be red necks or whatever, but there was really no reason to use the N word that much lmao.

The story wanders too much

The storyline is decent, but the long winded mind wanderings of every character had me lost at times. I quit rewinding to try to figure things out once I realized it was someone's random thoughts again.

Lush and gritty simultaneously

I’m glad I chose to listen to, rather than read this book. Roger Clark’s voice couldn’t have been any more perfectly suited. It’s as gritty and melancholic as the story, yet beautiful and compelling. The story line is tragic, yet moving. This one I listened to in short pieces of time; it required reflection and contemplation. Of God, life, happenstance, fate, love. It’s a much larger and more intimate exploration than the book’s synopsis would suggest. Just an extraordinary listen.

llife keeps on keeping on

First time author for me. A different kind of take on a book that on one level is about a bunch of low life meth addicts living by a river in east Texas. A 13-year-old boy meets a 17-year-old girl that is trying to escape the lifestyle. But in stealing a bunch of meth to fund her escape there are lots of people looking for her and meaning to do her harm. A lot of the book goes up and down the river as they look for their escape hatch.

The author does a good job of merging the meth life into the greater fabric of life. The river and those living by it have been there a long time and many aspects of life have come and gone, much of it not good as in jobs going away, people moving in search of a better life but those staying seem along for the ride with life just happening to them.

A lot of this book is pretty sad, but it is entertaining, and I'd guess most of us know of people caught up in this lifestyle. But life goes on. I know for me one of my mantras is life is for the living and this book sure brings that thought home.

Decent book

Not sure what the other negative reviews are talking about but I found it to be a decent story with excellent performance by Roger Clark, as usual.