LOST RIVER
J. Todd Scott
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
ISBN-13: 978-0735212947
Hardcover
Thriller

J.Todd Scott is rapidly carving out a name for himself as a go-to thriller author who guarantees a grim and violent wild ride into the world of the criminal drug trade and all its incarnations. His Chris Cherry trilogy was a gritty modern western set on the Texas border. LOST RIVER, Scott’s latest work, takes place outside of the Cherry books, moving locales and changing characters but is nonetheless in many ways his best and most insightful work to date.

The setting of LOST RIVER is rural Angel, Kentucky. Casey Alexander, who is assigned out of the Charleston, West Virginia DEA office and her partner Scott lets things spin out for a while, introducing the reader to the flora and fauna of the area, including some unforgettable characters on either side of the law. It isn’t always entirely clear where certain of these individuals reside, or if they straddle both sides depending on what the situation is, but the definite bad-uns belong to an extended crime family known as the Glassers. “Little Paris” Glasser is the first among equals of this group, a short-statured demon who controls the opioid trade in the small fiefdom he has carved out for himself. He introduces himself effectively within the first few pages of LOST RIVER, though the depths of his depravity are still being fully plumbed as the novel starts to reach its conclusion. DEA agents Casey Alexander and Terry Van Dorn aren’t introduced until the proceedings are well underway, the occasion being the massacre of (almost) the entire Glasser family by persons (initially) unknown. Van Dorn is the older of the pair, and while he carries some baggage it is Alexander who brings a roomful of Alfred Dunhill with her on a physical and emotional level. This burden doesn’t stop her from giving more than a flying fig about the people she encounters who are directly and indirectly affected by the opioid plague in the area, particularly a young medical transport assistant named Trey Dorado, who struggles to do the right thing or something close to it despite being ill-equipped to handle the multiple personal and professional burdens. Alexander and Van Dorn attempt to follow an evidentiary trail which has been smoothed over by some of the folks who are supposed to be helping them, and it is ultimately Alexander’s refusal to color within the lines that enable them to establish the motive behind the mass murders and the catalyst behind them, even as the life of an innocent hangs in the balance during the apocalyptic conclusion.

LOST RIVER is a grim, dark tale that focuses on the effect of opioid scourge among the rural poor and working-class of Appalachia. Scott notes in his Acknowledgments that while LOST RIVER is a work of fiction it draws from real-world events. Just so. The startling aftermath of one catastrophic event occurring in LOST RIVER seems to be modeled after a similar occurrence which took place ninety minutes from where I sit typing these words. LOST RIVER resonated with me and I suspect that it will do so with you as well. Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc.

This story takes place in a small rural area of Kentucky. The story centers around the opioid crisis and the effects that it has on the people in the whole area whether the person is addicted or not. When the book begins it did take a while to get into it, I found it difficult at first with all of the different characters and which ones were going to be the main focus. Then at times, others would be added. When the DEA agent Casey is introduced the story begins to settle down and then you are intrigued to find out who took out the crime family from this mountain community? You also want to know how the former police chiefs’ wife ended up in the river. Who supplied the drugs laced with fentanyl which were killing a lot of the people?
I found that the author did a good job with a subject that most people don’t want to talk about but that affects everyone in some way or another every day. Though this was not a true story it very well could be and for those who don’t know EMT’S, Firefighter’s and Police Officers administer Narcan to be people that are experiencing overdoses on the street and have saved many people. A good story with good characters.

LOST RIVER by J. Todd Scott is a novel that takes place in a rural area of Kentucky where the opioid epidemic has a stronghold in the recent rise in deaths by overdose in the community, and the massacre of a criminal family that had previously been considered untouchable due to the surveillance of their remote location, and the simple fact that nobody in their right mind would risk their wrath.

Casey, a special agent with the DEA, commits herself to the case after finding the sole survivor of the massacre; a baby covered in blood that appears to be just out of reach of her murdered mother.

Several others with involvement with the criminal family, including a former police chief with a young wife that has a drug addiction, work their way into the story and give Casey more incentive to get to the bottom of everything, including the whereabouts of the youngest son who’s body wasn’t part of the body count at the massacre site.

Can Casey overcome her own past failure and post traumatic stress to both survive and solve the case?

Very good story where the presence of the effects of opiates in a rural area have a detrimental and far reaching effect on the entire community, and the ruthlessness of those who profit from it.

Admittedly, I’m a sucker for rural crime novels, and also characters who struggle to overcome circumstances they’ve known an entire lifetime, and the feeling of hopelessness prevalent in the places they live; yet somehow rising above their circumstances due to the inherent sense of right and wrong, and the commitment to not give up in spite of everything that gets in the way.

4 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me early access to this title.

This is my first foray into a J. Todd Scott novel. I've been interested in his work since his first book hit the shelves, but have never gotten around to it,

I'm a big fan of the "narco/cartel/DEA" genre and I particularly enjoyed Don Winslow's The Power of the Dog series. This book feels like the other side of that coin. Mr. Winslow's focus is primarily south of the border and the manufacturing and distribution of heroin, etc. and turf-wars that the cartels wage in order to move their product. This feels like reading about the consequences of when that product makes it to "small-town" USA.

Also, much like Mr. Winslow's series, I don't get the feeling that there's too much hyperbole in these stories. The violence and desperation are very real and anyone hoping for any clear cut winners and losers or moral high ground will need to look elsewhere.

Mr. Scott paints a very vivid portrait of life amid the opioid crisis and while you root for the "good guys" you're clearly able to see the toll that fighting such a battle takes on them physically, mentally, ethically, spiritually, yada yada.

This is an on the streets look at the opioid epidemic and it's not pretty.

I devoured the first 3/4 of this book but at the 75% mark I started to lose steam and the last 25% took a bit longer to finish. This is not a police procedural but I did find some of the investigatory elements to be a bit tedious and of course there's the obligatory "not playing by the book" cliche.

Otherwise, a great book and definitely gives me a reason to look into his previous books.

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. It started a bit slow, but man, does it build into a scorcher of a story. I found myself not able to put it down, staying up way to late at night reading it (one of the only good things to come out of the Coronavirus quarantine, I can read as much as I want).
Dealing with the opioid crisis plaguing the country, specifically the Kentucky area, the book delves into many facets, dealers, users and law enforcement. Many people filling multiple roles.
The characters are many, and their actions and motives are ever changing. The author reveals things a little at a time, you never know what is going to happen. He moves things around like a river, currents and eddies folding back onto each other, changing constantly.
I honestly was kept guessing until the end. And that's unusual for me, as I can usually predict what's going to happen by mid-point in a book.
The book's ending was wrapped up very well, leaving no loose ends. And was a surprise.
All in all, this was a great read. I'm looking forward to reading more of this author.

Lost River by J. Todd Scott is a great read! A real engrossing page-turner and worth the time of a read!!