Life is sometimes full of heartbreaking experiences and this book captured the dreadful feeling of deep despair with two sisters. It showed how trauma can change the direction of those left behind when someone close has been murdered.

One evening, Natalie, took off after dinner in the small town of Upstate New York. She never returned and her two daughters were desperate to get answers from a detective working on the case. They suspected someone killed her but no substantial clues were found after an exhaustive search.

Fifteen years later, the older sister, Liz, got a call. A skull and bones were found by a young girl playing with her brothers in a field near their home. Liz, 34, was still living in the same house but her younger sister by six years, Jess, was now in New Jersey. Liz called and asked her to come home.

It was easy to imagine the town that had a few favorite restaurants where gossip rolled out quickly. The pace of the murder was slow which made the story long and drawn out, sometimes crawling in parts. The author added a subplot which took it into another direction with Jess trying to resolve a renewed relationship with her high school lover, Eva.

It's a depressing story of sisters living of the edge for months in a distressed state. It was often cold outside and Jess was covering her pain with drinks. The house was undesirable and Liz didn’t feel safe. It left me feeling sad and hopeless. The end caught me completely by surprise.

My thanks to The Dial Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of May 28, 2024.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Its been Jess and her sister most of her life. Her mom went missing many years ago. When they return home many years later. Little has changed in the town. This book was well written.

I had high hopes for this book because it was set in Northern NY and I spent a lot of time there when I was younger. I thought the author did capture aspects of what the landscape and culture was like. However while reading this book I felt like there was a dark cloud over everything. Ultimately this book just made me feel sad and depressed. I felt bad for both Jess and Liz. The unexplained death of their mother has weighed heavy on both of them and shaped their ability to have healthy relationships. I thought that things would move a little quicker with the mystery and the reader would find out a little sooner or at least get more details about what happened to their mother. I did enjoy the love triangle relationship in the book but overall this was not the book for me. I just did not connect with either character and felt the pace of the book was a little too slow for me. I do think others might enjoy this story especially if they like a slower build up and crime style novels.

Thank you to The Dial Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

A mystery wrapped up in a family drama that explores the aftermath when a mother disappears.

Two Sisters, one 13 and the other 19 and ready to make her way in the world. Jess, the youngest, bides her time to get out of Knife River after her mother goes missing. With no answers to what happened to her mother, Jess fumbles through the her life with many short-term relationships, too much alcohol, and meaningless jobs.
The eldest daughter, Liz, has had her life put on hold. She can't move on and can barely live in the house from which her mother disappeared. She becomes more of a recluse, fearful and angry and certain she knows what happened to her mother and by whom.

When bones are found 15 years later, the sisters are thrown back together to piece what it all mean to finally, acknowledge what each went through and gave up and how their memoires have been distorted over the years.

This book has such a feeling of authenticity about it. Grief and anger mixed together. That and where the resentment leaves you and the life it steals from you. Liz and Jess process their grief differently and unfortunately separately. Jess just wants to move on. Liz cannot. A harsh catalyst that rings true when following these sisters to a conclusion you just don't see coming.
4.25 Stars
Thank you to Dial Press Book Club for access to an early e-copy. All opinions are my own.

Knife River is a captivating debut that centers around a pair of sisters, Jess and Liz, who are anguished over their mother's unsolved disappearance. While one of them (Jess) has taken to running from the tragedy, living a nomadic existence as she skips from city to city, girlfriend to girlfriend, the other (Liz), has remained behind in their hometown, cloistered in their old family home and pouring over missing persons cases.

Fifteen years have lapsed when the call they've been waiting for yet dreading comes through: their mother's remains have been discovered.

This sends Jess back to Knife River in the hopes of finally finding closure. Of having an answer. However, with their mother's bones having been exposed to the elements for so long, any evidence they had hoped to find has run cold, with leads running stale and old suspects haunting them like a specter, leaving them with more questions than ever.

This was more of an atmospheric, character-driven exploration of grief than it was a cold case thriller, but I found that was what gave the story resonance and poignancy. Because of that, the strokes of the plot are more introspective in nature, with more internal rather than external movement happening. It's less about solving the case than it is about readers gaining insight into how this profound trauma has equally, but diametrically, frozen Jess and Liz and time. They're both stuck. Stagnated. Up to their chins in sorrow, and fear, and puzzlement--with neither one of them knowing how to move on.

The story's main strength was demonstrating how the two sisters were tethered by this tragic event. I liked seeing their enduring bond, also the way love and hurt and mystery twisted how they each coped with the loss of their mother. I did think Jess's romantic entanglements left something to be desired, though. They felt disjointed, distracting at times, leaving me feeling unmoored and uninterested. That said, I did think this was an intimate and harrowing portrayal of grief.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Interesting premise, Jess coming home to her hometown after the bones of her mother were found years later.

However, the story moved so slow at times, I had a hard time finding the momentum of where and where the story would pick up again.

I loved the set up, and Jess is a fascinating character that feels extremely deep and well-developed. Easy three to four stars with five for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Knife River pulled me in from the start, and although it’s paced much more slowly than what I usually want in a thriller, I couldn’t stop reading.

The plot and the way it unfolded reminded me a bit of The Lovely Bone: the slower pace, how it explores all the ways people break apart after loss, especially an unexpected loss with lingering questions, and the ways they have to put themselves back together again.

The writing was incredibly atmospheric. I could easily picture Knife River - a factory town after its heyday, once the center of action but no longer. I also really appreciated the duality of Jess’s and LIz’s coping mechanisms. They’re complete opposites of each other, but throughout the story come to understand each other and their choices better. I appreciated how all the clues came together at the end and thought the conclusion was perfect for the story. Highly recommend if you love slow-burn, atmospheric mysteries.

Thank you to Netgalley, The Dial Press, and Random House for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman, returns home to the small town she grew up in after her mother's remains are found. It is a story of coming to terms with your past, with the relationships you left behind, both family and lover, It is well written, with a mystery at the heart of it but it is mostly a psychological story with a slower pace and feel

Thanks to NetGalley and The Dial Press for this ARC. I thought this book was a crime thriller but it primarily centers around a family tragedy and how it's impacted two sisters. I found the book to drag and felt it didn't have a clear focus. Every time I thought it would zero in on something it then veered off in another direction. I was more than half way into the book and was still waiting for something momentous to happen. I found the story to be really heart wrenching Sadly, I was just happy to finish reading it.

I'm always a fan of grit lit and this certainly fits the category. You can almost see the pervasive gloom around the characters. I got bogged down in it for awhile, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The writing is tight and the characters are explored in great depth. And though it is a mystery, it lacks a lot of the obvious characteristics of the usual mystery and one can almost forget... until the ending. I'm not sure if the ending is strong or weak, but the detailed descriptions of both place and person will stay with me for quite some time. And that's the sign of a good book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. There's a lot to unpack here.

really good mystery and character building was spot on. Learned more justice system. It was nice to get to know them

This was great. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Thank you Netgalley. This was such an engrossing read!! The storyline and characters were well done and I was swept away. I am definitely looking forward to more from this author. Highly recommend

I am in the minority on this book i guess. The reviews are all great but for me it was a very sloooow read. I kept waiting for more to happen.

It's been quite cold here lately, and KNIFE RIVER was a great companion through the chilly days. I kept thinking that this novel would make a great TV show — I could see how each scene would play out in my mind's eye, which I think is indicative of Champine's evocative scene-setting. And while I haven't experienced a loss like a mother going missing, I felt like each main character's actions were understandable. I didn't see the final twist coming exactly, and the final pages felt satisfying. Add this to your summer thriller TBR!

ARC review - publishing date 5/28/24.

3.5 stars rounded down. I went into this thinking it was a cold case/murder mystery vibe, and while there is an unsolved case involved this is more of a family drama and exploration of grief. The first 35% or so is extremely slow, but once things picked up I was really invested! I enjoyed the characters and the author's depiction of two very different ways of coping with trauma. Really great for a debut novel.

#KnifeRiver #NetGalley
A thrilling ride. ,5 ⭐
When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister, Liz, never found out what happened. Instead, they did what they hoped their mother had done: survive. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning, fifteen years after their mother’s disappearance, she gets the call she’s been bracing for: Her mother’s remains have been found. Jess returns to find Knife River—and her sister—frozen in time. The town is as claustrophobic and rundown as ever. Liz still lives in their childhood home and has become obsessed with unsolved missing persons cases. Jess plans to stay only until they get some answers, but their mother’s bones, exposed to the elements for so long, just leave them with more questions. As Jess gets caught up in the case and falls back into an entanglement with her high school girlfriend, her understanding of the past, of Liz, of their mother, and of herself become more complicated—and the list of theories more ominous.
I loved it so much especially its ending. Wow what an experience.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for giving me an advance copy.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the eARC.

When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and did not return - now, fifteen years later, bones have been discovered in the woods nearby.

Jess's sister has remained in their childhood home - her life, their home and the town itself seemingly frozen in time. As days turn into weeks, Jess's understanding of the past, her sister, and herself become more and more complicated.

Being the eldest of three sisters, I will always have a huge interest in sisterly novels and this one did not disappoint. Jess and Liz will need to work together for the closure of their mother's disappearance and death in order to move forward with their lives, but old habits die hard.

This was a good read with well-developed characters. I had moments when I couldn't connect to the main character, but soon realized that was totally appropriate. Her Mom disappeared when she was young, she was forced to hide her sexuality in her hometown, and she has a long history of fragmented relationships. When I really challenged myself to be in her shoes, I started to get it. This isn't a twisty, edge-of-your-seat murder mystery. It is far more subtle.