The Current

A Novel

By: Tim Johnston

Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen

Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In the dead of winter, outside a small Minnesota town, state troopers pull two young women and their car from the icy Black Root River. One is found downriver, drowned, while the other is found at the scene - half-frozen but alive.

What happened was no accident, and news of the crime awakens the community's memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river 10 years earlier and whose killer may still live among them.

Determined to find answers, the surviving young woman soon realizes she's connected to the earlier unsolved case by more than just a river, and the deeper she plunges into her own investigation, the closer she comes to dangerous truths and to the violence that simmers just below the surface of her hometown.

Grief, suspicion, the innocent, and the guilty - all stir to life in this cold Northern town where a young woman can come home but still not be safe.

Brilliantly plotted and unrelentingly propulsive, The Current is a beautifully realized story about the fragility of life, the power of the past, and the need, always, to fight back.

©2019 Tim Johnston (P)2019 HighBridge Company

Great Book

I love this book. I can't wait for another to come out. I agree there needs to be a continuation to this book.

The voice is so annoying

I couldn’t get through even the first chapter because the reader sounds like a robot. It’s the first audiobook I couldn’t listen to

The Current Review

The story was great as well as the performance but the author didn't have to use the curse words GD throughout the book in order to obtain the same effect. Way overused.

I'm lost

I was lost through the whole book.. The narrator did a fantastic job on the material she had to work with. maybe I missed something but I'm still scratching my head. sorry!

Good Story!

Mr. Johnson is definitely a talented writer and Sarah Mollo-Christensen was excellent in the narration. One chapter involving a conversation with a main character repeatedly referred to him as "the boy." This was odd as 18 year old's on the evening news are labeled men. This character was 29 (?) He later disappeared and this was never resolved.The ending apparently was giving us an alternative view of what might have happened.

Thoughtful and compelling

Initially, the writing style ( long, run-on sentences, lots of discriptive prose ) was a bit off-putting, because I was expecting a face-paced thriller. This isn't that kind of book, and after the first chapter I was completely engaged in the smooth, leisurely unfolding of the story. The prose took on a cinematic feel, almost like reading a detailed screenplay. Put aside any expectations and let yourself hunker down into the cold, bleak winter of Minnesota and Iowa. (5) star narration !

The ending

The ending was so confusing that it took away from the entire book. Why was there a story about an old man that saved them? What happened to Danny and what was the significance of the large bolt in Danny’s bedroom? This book needed to be wrapped up better, as it was lengthy and compelling .

Such a great writer

Detailed characters and rich writing alongside an interesting plot. This is the second if Johnston’s books I’ve read and both have kept me engrossed till the end.

Fulfills need 4 bloody good criminal suspense read

A cadaverously cryogenic, criminal suspense novel, deftly structured. One might have difficulty catching the flow for the first 100 pages as the book switches between 6/7 characters because the shifts happen mainly from ruminations of one character to those of another. The first half contains sparse dialogue. I suspect most readers have or will hit high gear by a third of the way through. Once I got there, I found it hard to put the novel aside, for the comfort of sleep or otherwise.

Grade A 4.4 star sustenance for a twice-to-thrice-yearly need for a bloody good crime read.

Is that it?????

I thought this was a great book, considering. It drew me in and it was compelling and very descriptive. Maybe too descriptive in some areas. As with other reviews, the movement back and forth between time periods was not smooth and was hard to follow. I had to back up and relisten a number of times to see where I missed the transition. The let down for me was in the ending. There was ample opportunity and story line to really finish with a bang but instead it dropped off a cliff. Disappointing. Maybe its the authors way of setting up for a sequel but it left this book feeling unfinished.