The River Girls: A Mercy Harbor Thriller

By: Melinda Woodhall

Narrated by: Melanie Carey

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

Who's killing the girls of Willow Bay?

When the body of a missing girl washes up on the banks of the Willow River, the killing is linked to two cold case murders, and the investigation must uncover the twisted motive of a serial killer before he kills again.

Still reeling after her sister’s brutal murder, grief-stricken Eden Winthrop has returned to Willow Bay, where she runs the Mercy Harbor Foundation, a safe haven for victims of violence. When a teenage trafficking victim disappears from a shelter run by her foundation, Eden is drawn into the search for the sadistic killer. The hunt becomes personal when Eden's niece is abducted just as the body of yet another victim is discovered in a local river. In a desperate effort to save her niece, Eden must partner with the small-town police force that had failed to save her sister. And to catch the killer, she realizes she must trust the one man she vowed to never forgive and summon the strength to face her deepest fears.

The gripping first audiobook in the Mercy Harbor Thriller series will keep you up at night.

©2018 Melinda Woodhall (P)2018 Melinda Woodhall

Exciting thriller that will keep you listening!

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this author and I was hooked from the start. I enjoyed the well-developed characters, fast pace of the story and the twists and turns of the plot. Will be looking forward to more by this author!

The River Girls

The River Girls by Melinda Woodhall is the first book in the Mercy Harbor thriller series. It introduces Eden Winthrop who runs a shelter for abused women in honor of her sister Mercy whose life was snuffed out prematurely. Eden blames herself for her failure to protect her sister, so when a troubled teen showed up at the shelter, then disappeared she made it her duty to locate the girl which led to her filing a missing report. Her desire to help the teen intensified when a friend of the same teen turned up dead in the Willow River. Meanwhile, Detective Nessa Ainsley receives a call from an inmate at the local detention centre who was calling to report her daughter missing. Is this the same girl who came to the shelter or is it the one whose body the police found in the river?

I found this to be an interesting read. The story began with a murder in progress. The villain believes he is trying to save his victims, who comprises young girls who find themselves in unfortunate situations. Besides the missing girls, there was sex and drug trafficking and police corruption.

I thought the author did a good job with character development. I love stories that feature strong female leads and The River Girls delivered in that regard. In this story, we get not one but two strong female leads. I enjoyed getting know both women. Eden appeared fragile, but that was a facade as beneath that fragility lay a woman who was not afraid to face danger to protect not only those she loves, but also women whom she believed were in need of protection. Detective was no pushover. As the only female in her unit, she had many male egos to contend with, but she held her own.

The secondary characters who helped in solving the case as the villains helped to stir things up and made for some interesting moments.

I thought the mystery was well done. There were several plot threads, and the author did a great job in tying them together to make for a suspenseful and mysterious ride. This is one of those mysteries, which keeps you guessing, and then things begin to slowly unravel to all the pieces fit together.

Narration
The narration was ok, but it did not blow me away. I was not a big fan of the accent used for detective Ainsley. She sounded too much like Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer, which I found annoying. Her other voices were ok; however there were some instances of mispronunciation. Thankfully, these occurrences were few.

Conclusion/Recommendation
Overall, the mystery satisfied me, and I am glad I got the chance to read it.

GREAT STORY! HORRIBLE NARRATION!!!

This story was definitely a 5-star! The narration was EXTREMELY LACKING! Because I love the author's writing talent, I wanted to love the narration as well but Melanie Carey doesn't fall on my "Favorite Narrator List" AT ALL! Her accents are terrible and there are times I think she tries waaaaaayyyy too hard. I know that the second book in this series is also narrated by Melanie Carey and I'm not sure I can stand listening to her again. If future releases feature her as the narrator, I definitely will not be a fan/follower of Melinda Woodhall. There's just too many other authors with great narrators to choose from. That's really sad because this story was so good but could be GREAT with the right narrator.

I highly recommend this book but ONLY if you read it rather than listen.

Southern Accent atrocious

The southern accent was very disappointing and distracting. Sounded too fake to be believable. I’m from the south and this just didn’t cut it. Very happy the entire book didn’t have her talking like that. I could not have continued the book

strong and endearing MC with a strong storyline.

Anyone who likes murder mysteries with relatable characters would enjoy this thriller. The Audible version is fantastic and I loved the narrator!

The MC Eden is both fragile and incredibly strong this fittingly flawed character is looking for peace and possibly a bit of redemption and this book takes us on her harrowing journey.

Eden is surrounded by a number of interesting characters that are all well developed and help support Eden in her quest to save women in danger.

Great plot I truly loved it!