Jaimie Elders is 19 and trapped in a small town, trying to live down the reputation of a mother who'd been in prison, a troubled brother where her loyalty runs deep, and being indebted to an uncle that has masked his reasons for taking her and her brother in for his own illegal gambling activities.

The tale is familiar--a diabolical judge that runs the town, the married man who uses a young girl, a murder that is being covered up, the detective that refuses to give up until he uncovers the truth. Yet through the sometimes naive, but always resourceful eyes of Jaimie, it's a story that kept me turning the pages to know how it would turn out. From page one, I was drawn in and rooted for Jaimie to find her way out. In the end it's a story of hope, that we are not destined to live any other life than the one we choose.

Gale Massey makes a gritty and thrilling crime debut set in small town, Parsons, in New York, a place where once your family is saddled with a history and reputation as convicts, thieves and cheats, its hard to escape the heavy weight of peoples' judgements and expectations. 19 year old Jamie Elders is bright and intelligent, her life has not been easy, her mother is in prison, and all she wants is to escape from Parsons. She is a great poker player, a gift honed from her mother's skills in the game, she has plans of becoming a professional player in Florida. However, it all goes to hell in a handcart after Jamie makes a series of poor decisions that land her in a whole heap of trouble and in enormous debt to her nasty piece of work, abusive and corrupt Uncle Loyal, a man deep into illicit gambling with connections in high places.

Whilst there are aspects of Jamie with her fraught personal life that are naive, her background has ensured that she has a native understanding of the world she lives in. She is loathe to leave her younger troubled brother, Toby, in the care of Loyal, a man who plainly cannot be trusted. She has no choice to do as she is forced to anything and everything that her despicable Uncle Loyal asks, and he is asking a lot when he demands that she gets rid of a the dead body of a well known and liked character. He goes too far with his intention to frame Toby for the murder. The resourceful Jamie refuses to take this lying down as she sets out to extricate herself and save Toby from the clutches of Uncle Loyal in her search to secure some form of justice in a unforgiving town and a little help from a detective. Set in the world of gambling, the narrative comes from the perspective of a number of characters. I loved the character of the feisty Jamie whom life has dealt some difficult cards, you just cannot help but root for her throughout. This is a great story, compelling and entertaining, that never failed to hold my interest. Just brilliant! Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for an ARC.

The Girl from Blind River is a fast-paced, impressive debut novel from Gale Massey. In it we meet Jamie Elders, a young woman of nineteen who’s trapped in Blind River, a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and in which children are pegged from birth to follow family bloodlines.

When Jamie and her brother were young, their mother was sent to prison. Their uncle Loyal took them in, saving them from the “evils” of the Social Services Department. Anxious to break away and branch out on her own, Jamie wants to head to Florida to make money on the professional poker circuit. She learned cards from her mother early on and has the instincts of a savant, yet her age and inexperience necessarily mean she is somewhat naive. She also can’t leave Blind River as long as her brother Toby is in the care of the abusive Loyal who is in cahoots with a corrupt judge.

Jamie’s naiveté also leads her to a going-nowhere affair with a married man who uses her for more than just sex—he films her in a sex tape without her knowledge. Despite her faults, she is well-rounded, but resourceful, smart, and strong. Her backstory is sprinkled in judiciously. The other characters are also well-rounded. No one, however, is totally innocent

Massey does a terrific job amping up the tension. Jamie borrows from the money she collects from Loyal’s illegal gambling machines and loses it. In fiasco after fiasco, she grows deeper in debt to her snake of an uncle. Only when a detective from out of town convinces her to tell the truth of what she knows does Jamie see an end to her life in Blind River.

This is a stunning debut novel by Gale Massey.

Jamie and her younger brother Toby live with their Uncle Loyal. He got custody of the kids when their mother was locked up. Jamie desperately wants to get out of Blind River and make a better life for her and Toby. All Toby dreams about is joining the Army when he gets out of school. The only thing holding him back is a terrible temper and a string of bad decisions.

Jamie has become a pretty good online poker player, and she occasionally deals for her Uncle and his friends at their high stakes poker games. But when Jamie slips up and decides to skim some money from her Uncle's deposit one day, the stakes suddenly become much higher.

A subplot develops out of a shady high stakes home poker game that Loyal is tied to. A celebrity that feels as though he's been taken for a ride accuses Loyal and a judge of fixing the game, and he is hell bent on getting revenge. Jamie's chance to make things right with Loyal and the judge suddenly develops when the ramifications from their shady game catch up with them.

As time moves on, Jamie discovers some secrets that Loyal has been keeping from her and Toby. Teaming up with her mother, who is now out of prison, Jamie hatches a plan to turn the tables on Loyal and the judge and ultimately set things right in Blind River. I think this would be an interesting movie. It's a great story with interesting characters and location.

I would recommend this book to fans of thrillers and suspense. I received this as a free ARC from Crooked Lane Books on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

THE GIRL FROM BLIND RIVER, Gale Massey’s debut mystery novel, is due out July 10th 2018 by Crooked Lane Books.

Nineteen year old Jamie Elder would like nothing more than to move on from her past – but that’s hard to do when she can’t even escape her hometown of Blind River, New York. Jamie’s father died when she was a child, and, not long after, her mother was convicted to an eight year prison term. Jamie, and her younger brother, Toby, have lived with their abusive, law-breaking uncle ever since – and let’s just say that Uncle Loyal has done the absolute bare minimum required to provide for his brother’s children. The only reason Jamie has stuck around after high school is to take care of her younger brother. Once Toby turns eighteen and joins the Army, Jamie plans to skip town and join the traveling poker circuit. Her plans change when she steals money from her uncle. To repay her debt, Loyal forces Jamie to help him dispose of a dead body. The local police know that something is up, and Jamie is torn between keeping her mouth shut and telling all she knows. As Jamie learns more and more about what is going on in Blind River – and how it has shaped her life and continues to affect her and her brother – she realizes that there is only one choice for her to make.

THE GIRL FROM BLIND RIVER is a fast-paced, compelling thriller that is told from multiple third-person points of view. The majority of the story is told from Jamie Elder’s perspective, but it is essential to have certain scenes told from other characters’ points of view. The reader will be captivated from the first page to the last as Jamie and the rest of the characters uncover the various secrets of Blind River.

Jamie Elder is not perfect. She’s not always all that the likable. To be honest, none of the characters are really all that likable. You certainly wouldn’t want to invite them over for tea and cookies…But you would want them on your speed dial should you have a dead body to get rid of. Yet the readers will find themselves cheering for Jamie to overcome her past – her family members are criminals and she has been pegged from childhood to follow in their footsteps – and find a brighter future for herself. Jamie may be young, naïve, and bitter, but she is also resourceful and cunning. The chips may be stacked against her, but she knows how to play the odds. She will even cheat if she has to.