Fifteen years later, Jess gets the phone call she has been dreading. Her missing mother's body has been found. Heading back to her hometown, Jess along with her sister Liz, are determined to find out what happened.

This debut book was pretty good. I found myself quite interested in the story of the girl's mother and was keen to know why she disappeared. I loved getting to know the two sisters with their different personalities. I did feel that the story did stagnate a little in the middle and maybe in this way, it might have been a little longer than it needed to be. I don't normally go for slow burn thrillers but with this mystery, I felt the slow buildup helped. It was a shame the story didn't keep developing throughout. Overall though, this was a decent read. I am eager to see what the author writes next.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

Knife River was a dark and twisty mystery that keeps you guessing from the very beginning! Admittedly, it was a little too dark for me, as I generally do not like to read about murder. If you are a fan of thrillers and mysteries, this will likely be the book for you!

Thank you again for the ARC!

This was a fantastic debut. It was quiet. Descriptive. This was not literary thriller/mystery. It was a story of grief and family. My only qualms was that sometimes the author lost herself in the first person narrative. But overall would recommend highly.

This was a feminist, suspenseful, and well written literary mystery. I really enjoy the titles The Dial Press puts out and this was no exception. The writing was atmospheric and evocative and so character driven, unlike many mysteries I read. Really glad I read this.

What a slow and beautiful burn. Champine's Knife River explores the relationship between Jess and her sister Liz following the discovery of their mother's remains years after her mysterious disappearance. Both sisters' lives have been upended by grief in different ways: Jess left her hometown as soon as she cold, only to find herself jumping from relationship to relationship; Liz still lives in their childhood home, working as a bank teller, her only friend an elderly customer.

Champine focuses on the imperfect relationships between women and complex and differing perspectives of the impact of grief. At times her writing was difficult to follow: there seemed to be a lot of moving parts that felt disjointed, and it was difficult to connect with Jess as a character. That being said, I still found myself racing through the pages, hoping to unravel the mystery alongside these imperfect women.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I tend to measure books like this: am I still thinking about those characters a few days later? A few weeks, even? Do I feel a moment of loss when the book comes to an end? Do I feel envy when I recommend the book, knowing that a reader will have the opportunity to be a part of that world for the very first time?

For all of those, KNIFE RIVER is a resounding yes. This beautiful, brilliant book that presents itself as a suspenseful novel about a mother’s disappearance is so much more than that. The writing is lyrical and precise, full of moments that invite you to be fully immersed alongside the characters. And the characters - my goodness, these two sisters. Estranged yet defined by their shared grief, Jess and Liz come together fifteen years after their mother’s sudden disappearance. After remains are discovered in their small town, they’re called again to wait, wait, wait - for closure, for answers, for healing, for justice. As they wait together in their cramped childhood home that’s been kept like a museum since their mother’s disappearance, we learn more about those fifteen years of claustrophobic grief - and how it has shaped who they are and the way they navigate the world. This is a spoiler-free review so I will leave it there but just know that this is not your typical thriller. There’s more here.

KNIFE RIVER is, in many ways, a tribute to the experience of sisterhood. There is queer romance, there is suspense, there is small town atmosphere. It was an unexpected gift to read, and I cannot wait to read more from Justine Champine.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

I'm not a big fan of mysteries or thrillers but I was given the opportunity to read Justine Champine's debut novel, Knife River. The cover was beautiful so I thought I would take a chance on something different from the type of book that I normally read. At first, I was skeptical about reading it. After the first few chapters, I got somewhat interested in where the story was going. The only problem was that the story about sisters Jess and Liz dealing with their mother's disappearance progressed at a very slow pace and sometimes seemed a bit tedious. Thanks to Corina Die/Random House for recommending this novel, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

When Jess was 13, her Mother went for a walk and never returned home. Now, years later, human remains have been found, believed to be her Mother's. She returns home to the Sister and town that she left behind. She finds that is seems as time has stood still and much is the same. She runs into her old girlfriend from high school and try to rekindle their relationship.

This is a good book, a good plot and interesting characters.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

3.5 stars. An interesting debut. A VERY slow burn mystery. It's not so much a mystery, in my opinion, as it is a story about loss and grief and the burdens we carry with us. Most of the novel focuses on the fractured relationship between sisters Jess and Liz, and Jess's reaction to being back in the small town in which she grew up.

"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 would do: 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 later she gets the call she’s been bracing herself for: Her mother's remains have been found."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dial Press for the free ARC in eschange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

2.5 Stars rounded up.

I'm never really drawn to protagonists like Jess and this was no exception. The whole book was depressing and I couldn't wait for it to end. I liked how the ending wrapped it up or it would've been a 1.0 star for me.

Thanks Random House Group via NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC. I don't think I'll be reading anything else from this author though.

Good book and story about a woman who disappears, and her daughters never stop trying to find out what happen to her. Lots of theories but no concrete info. While the story and characters were good, I felt like it dragged on and there was too much detail. Not bad for a debut from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and the Author, Justine Champine for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When they were 13 and 18, Jess and Liz's mother went out for a walk one morning and never came back. Now, 15 years later, Liz has barely been back to their town of Knife River and lives a life hopping from girlfriend to girlfriend, never quite able to settle but also never quite able to be alone. Liz has stayed in Knife River all this time, and while she holds a steady job at the local bank, it's clear that she's not doing so great herself - never changing anything about the house, never able to move on from her obsession with a particular person she thinks is responsible for her mother's disappearance. The sisters are barely in touch until one day Jess receives an urgent call from Liz to come home: their mother's remains have been found. What ensues is a look at how they handle the past trauma being dredged up, their continued quest for answers, and the tension between their different approaches to coping. Don't go into this one thinking of it as a thriller, or really even a slow-burn suspense. There's a missing person cold case at the center, but it's much more a character study and an exploration of responses to trauma, particularly of this missing persons variety that has no closure, and particularly the disappearance of a mother. Made me think more of William Landay's All That Is Mine I Carry with Me (minus the perspective shifts/inventive narration style), than a psychological mystery like Tana French or Jane Harper (which I had heard one comparison to) with this focus on siblings who have lost a mother and what that does to their relationship with each other, and with their ability to grow up/live life. It's fairly gritty in feel; I thought it well-written, though the overall feel can be depressing, and sometimes you just want to shake Jess a little... While I appreciated some feelings of redemption toward the end, I was actually a bit disappointed that the redemption was followed with a neater ending than I would have expected after this whole exploration of what a real-life missing-person tragedy is like - a lot of times we don't ever know the whole story, and I thought that might have been a better ending here. I received a free e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ★★★.75

I have mixed feelings people!! I don’t like the way it ended! I literally bawled. Tears are still slowly sliding down my face.

This book has gotten to be one of the brilliantly written debut I’ve read in a long time. The intelligent writing had me drawn in from the first paragraph detailing the main character’s life to the ending. This isn’t just about trying to solve a case or finding the sisters’ mother. The is the story of an awkward sister love, redemption, forgiveness, understanding, compassion and perspective. This is about building a bridge between two sisters after being estranged for over fifteen years and do they have the courage to find themselves and start over after their mother’s bones discovery. Will there be a justice after all. Depending on how you look at it after you finish this book…..This story will haunt me for years to come because of my personal experiences.

Four and half stars from me.

Thank you, Dial Press and NetGalley for allowing me read this wonderful eARC. As usual, all of my reviews are purely my own opinions without any influence from any publisher

Knife river is a strong literary thriller. Jess and Liz’s mother went for a walk in their walk town of knife river fifteen years ago and vanished, never heard from again. When she’s old enough, Jess leaves the town as well to start over and put distance between herself and knife river. However, the girls get a call that their mother’s remains have been found and Jess returns back to their town to find nothing has changed. Jess and Liz have to relive the events of fifteen years ago to piece together what happened to their mom. Filled with plenty of suspects, this is a slow-burning literary mystery and a particular one to which I’m drawn.-returning back to a small town. This is very-well written and slowly ratchets up the suspense and mystery while building the small -town atmosphere. If you love mysteries that have a literary bent-don’t miss this under-the-radar read!

Thanks to the publisher for the arc provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When you read the description of Knife River, you might initially think it's centered around a murder investigation. While that's a significant part of the story, the narrative encompasses much more. It's basically about the relationship between two sisters and the profound impact their mother's disappearance had on their lives. One sister left town at the first opportunity, while the other stayed behind in the family home.

Knife River begins with the discovery of the remains of Jess and Liz's mother, 15 years after she went missing. Understandably, a murder investigation after so many years progresses slowly, and the story's pace mirrors this. Although Liz and Jess are relatable characters, the pacing of their development didn't compel me to keep reading with urgency to find out what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.

This book tackles grief in such a raw and honest way. How grief can keep you in a place that maybe you don't even belong anymore. It was so real and so good.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dial Press for allowikng me to read this egalley in exchange for an honest review!
The setting of the book was interesting, and it showed how a crime has lasting impacts on those it effects. The storytelling was solid and the book kept my attention.

Estranged sisters come together when their missing mother’s body is found.

In 1995 in a rural northern New York town a single mother named Natalie Fairchild goes for a walk as she often has in the past, leaving her two teenage daughters Liz and Jess behind. This time, however, she doesn’t come back. Ever. The police do not initially share the two girls’ concerns, but when the mother doesn’t return after another full day has passed they organize searches and begin an investigation, but no concrete evidence is found. A local man is under suspicion for a while, but no connection to the disappearance can be made Liz, the elder sister, becomes caretaker to Jess and the community does their best to help for a while, but ultimately life just continues on. Liz, always a bit socially awkward, will end up staying in the family home, working a local job and leaving a limited and solitary life in the decaying home. Jess can’t wait to leave the drab town of Knife River behind but will lead an aimless life, coasting through life from girlfriend to girlfriend, with no goals and no deep connections. She and Liz rarely see one another, and this will only change fifteen years after their mother’s disappearance when Liz calls Jess with news that bones have been found in a wooded area in Knife River. Jess, already looking for an excuse to leave her latest lover Sarah, immediately heads back home to the declining town she so readily had abandoned years earlier. Together, the two sisters wait in frustration for any information that will bring closure to the event that so impacted their lives. Jess also reconnects with Eva, a former love. Will the sisters be able to rekindle sisterly bonds after all this time, and will they ever find out what happened to their mother?
Billed by some as a literary mystery, Knife River is the story of a family impacted by tragedy, loss and grief. There is an underlying mystery, of course, the unexplained disappearance of Natalie, but it is not the main driving force of the novel. Jess and Liz struggle to discover who they are, separately and together, and try to overcome the damage that the devastating event inflicted on them so many years ago. Author Justine Champine’s writing is lovely and evocative, but the pace is extremely slow and the tone is grim. I found it hard to connect with the characters, to be honest….they are both emotionally closed off in their own ways. I struggled to stay involved with the story for much of the book, partly due to my lack of connection to the characters and partly because of the slow development of the plot. Readers who are more interested in character studies will likely find the book of greater appeal; fans of authors like Lily King, Julia Glass and to a degree Jodi Picoult might also want to give it a try. Thanks to NetGalley and The Dial Press for allowing me early access to this thought-provoking study of the impact of tragedy without closure on a family.

10/10. I loved this book, was a fascinating debut mystery book! This novel was a slow burn, which usually loses my attention pretty fast but I was honestly sucked in wanting to know more.

This is an original approach to the ubiquitous murder/missing persons novels. It is about the long term effect on the survivors. If you like a slow, introspective, self-revealing musings, this is the book for you. If not, you might find it tedious.

Liz and Jess’s mother went missing fifteen years prior to the start of the story. Liz, the older sister, cared for her younger sister when only a teenager herself and remains stuck, keeping the house as her mother left it. Jess, on the other hand, left town as soon as she was able. She is gay and not comfortable in that fact. She wanders from relationship to relationship, works piecemeal jobs, and is as lonely in her wanderings as Liz is in her stasis.

All these years later, a child is playing in the nearby woods and finds a skeleton which turns out to be their mother. Jess comes back to Knife River to be with her sister while forensics and police are determining if there will be more information to determine the cause and who might have killed her.

The story is told from Jess’s point of view. She is wounded in many ways and has been on the run from herself and what has happened. Coming back reopens much of the misery that drove her away—a dying town, stagnant people, a stigma about being gay, the fear that the killer is still around and a source of danger.

While much does happen between the sisters in a quiet, back door kind of way, there is progress. The disinterest the authorities have in helping the sisters or finding some answers magnifies what has happened to them over time.

While I was surprised by the ending, I must think about whether it should have ended in that way. The reader is on a slow paced internal journey through the novel and then is left with a plausible ending, but one that is too neat.

I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for a book exploring the internal terrain of characters that have been victimized by an unimaginable event and how it impacts the trajectory of their lives.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this novel.