Gone to See the River Man (Gone to See the River Man Series Book 1)

A unrelentingly dark story from beginning to end. It’s a bleak, violent, and horrific story that is well paced. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who’s wanting to write good horror, the characterization of the main character is really well done; and I think Triana accomplished everything he set out to achieve. I think there is an over reliance on gore in some scenes but the psychological horror is done wonderfully. The finale does also feel a bit rushed. Otherwise, excellent novel. Definitely recommend having something much lighter to read afterwards though.

I will admit, the story wasn't much like I expected...and in all the best ways possible.The premise of the story follows Lori, and her obsession and correspondences with a serial killer, Edmund. Lori claims that she is interested in the stories and acts of Edmund, and not the man himself...but the truth of that really begins to blur as the story progresses.Anyway, after multiple letters and visitations, Lori seems to gain the killer's trust, and he starts to confide more and more in her, ultimately leading him to "asking for a favor". He sends her on a quest of sorts. All she needs to do is visit his old shack, hidden deep in the woods, retrieve a key, and deliver it to someone only referred to as The River Man. Seems easy enough, right? Yeah, me too. Knowing the quest comes from a prolific serial killer sets off red flag on top of red flag.Lori's obsession makes her jump at the opportunity though. First off, se gets to see the inside of his remote hideout, on top of gaining more trust from Edmund, so she accepts.The first stumbling block is life forces her to take along her sister, Abby. At our first introduction, we see that Abby is handicapped, both physically and mentally, so readers know this isn't going to be a good thing. This is the dynamic that really grabbed me.Even as a side character, Abby pretty much steals the show for me. Abby was written extremely well, and was a character that immediately grabbed my attention. There are flashback scenes to their childhoods, a time before the accident that impacted Abby. Yes, as a reader, you get to find out what happened, and its a wonderful build up that has you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happened. Just...be careful what you wish for. Let's just leave it at that.Which leads us to the main character, Lori. Lori starts out pretty much as a normal character...well, a normal characters that has a hobby of corresponding with serial killers. Even such, her current life situations make her hobby believable to the reader. The story then spins a traumatic, emotionally dark and damaged character page by page, leading the reader to find out the hows and whys behind this interest, and ultimately leaves you shocked, disgusted, angry...take your pick.The River Man himself is a long lasting folklore in the area, and the focus of the story for the most part is the dynamics between Lori and Abby, and the life events that lead them to where they are today. And when it seems things can't get any more dark and disturbing...well, they actually find The River Man.Up until that point, its a wonderful, gripping story, hands own. The last third or so of the book is where things go up in the air. Let's try to discuss this without spoilers. To me, I'd equate the story to the imagination of Clive Barker or Rob Zombie. And you know how that goes. Its either a direct bulls eye or completely misses the mark. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the book. I was forced to the edge of my seat, flipping page after page, then forced to shift gears and go "What the hell is happening?" For anyone that is a Clive Barker fan, I would think you'd really enjoy this story. Picture Barker's imagination set in a rural, mountain folk-type setting, if you can.With the physical and emotional trauma of the story, it should come with trigger warnings galore, so if you need to know those types of warnings, search them out before jumping into this book. It'll probably spoil things for you though. I don't really see where true horror fans would need trigger warnings though, so for a hard core fan of horror, going into this story as blind as possible will heighten the ride for you.All in all, I give this one a five star rating. Lots of gore, in depth psychological discoveries, emotional trauma, dark supernatural aspects, a folk legend type feel...this story delivers all that and more. I highly recommend it horror lovers.

I read it all in one go, it's under 200 pages and flows fairly well. The genre is 'Splatterpunk' which, while the story was rather gory, I wouldn't say it was too punk.The basic pitch is that a lonely woman is obsessed with an incarcerated serial killer. She claims to not have romantic feelings for him, but just an intense interest in picking his brain.During a visit at his prison he asks the woman to perform a simple task, go to a shack of his in his hometown, that not even the police knew about, find a key and take it further down the river and deliver it to 'The Riverman'.The story cuts back and forth from when the main woman is a child and modern day as she's on her journey down the river.I won't spoil where it goes from there, but the reason this book gets talked about is the extreme subject matter, that I will not detail here, for it is quite extreme. While not as outright mutilation, torture or graphic murder focused as something like 'Maggot Baits', it deals with some VERY dark matters and I would not recommend this to people who have a problem with bad things happening to children.I do compliment the actual prose of the book, incredibly evocative and can be genuinely disturbing, even if the plot and how it plays out leave a little bit to be desired. Character motivations take on a more metaphorical angle in the last quarter, but the last 10-20% of the book is some legitimately well written ethereal horror.Overall I don't think I can actually recommend this book to almost anyone but people looking for something explicitly messed up. 'Riverman' has some great stuff in it and some of the thickest atmosphere I've read in a long time; but yeah, it's ROUGH.I can easily see how this book would be a 1 or 0 for most people though.

“Gone To See The River Man” is my first introduction to Kristopher Tirana as far as I know, unless he is among the countless editor Ellen Datlow authors that contribute to the many Horror Anthologies, I believe Volume 15 is being released 08-23- that Datlow has released or one of the many other anthologies I have ingested. Kristopher Tirana doesn’t suck, not at all- in fact, like the Esquire Magazine list of the “Best & Disturbing Horror Books Ever Written” where I discovered “Gone To See The River Man” and have also tasked myself to read every book on that list that I haven’t already, and there are a few like this one- I agree. I’m not sure where I would position this dark, very macabre and at times brutally graphic horror story of absurd, dysfunctional, delusional quest for love, but it definitely is in my personal top one hundred best horror novels ever written; definitely! If you like Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath, Bentley Little, Chuck Windig and Jack Ketchum- you will definitely enjoy this one for sure! I do not recommend this book to anyone who is sensitive to “sensitive & disturbing content” sex, incest, language or graphic violence- this one has a little bit of it all! If it’s taboo, it’s here….. 4.5 stars and a 5 star narrator for those fortunate enough to enjoy this as a listen, one of the better narrators indeed. Awesome quick piece of dark and beautiful horror! Ski L. Laughing Bear, So Lake Tahoe Ca.

A well paced, trippy story with lots of good gore. This was mostly enjoyable, but the "back story" about family secrets could really use a trigger warning (SA, ED).

This book will grab you and not let go! I loved the voices, I loved the accents and I honestly love that the protagonist did what she had to do! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 what’s to be said about those who root for the villain?

Normally I’d always recommend going into reads blind because that’s what I enjoy, however I can’t in all honesty recommend that for this one, I went in blind as I’m not easily triggered but I can see it triggering others especially with certain situations in the story.I enjoyed the plot and the twists and turns. I understand why people say to read it. The ending was predictable but it doesn’t matter it’s still worth it.

Terrifiant de noirceur. A lire absolument!

Despite a rhyme about a river man being quoted at the beginning of the book, I was expecting an association with Gary Ridgway, aka, The Green River Killer of Washington. After all, there was Edmund Cox in the blurb too, a convicted serial killer with whom Lori is obsessed. However, this book is beyond mundane stuff like jailed serial killers and their fandom (it's Kristopher Triana writing it after all). It's more about freely roaming people who live amongst us as our near and dear ones and do worse things than ripping someone apart. They give in to their jealousy and insecurity and rip apart souls with weapons that you can't see. They destroy lives and even send their unsuspecting victims to lifelong incarceration in the prison-cell of their bodies, thus making instant death a much better proposition. That's our Lori, the fan girl, the uncaught, unidentified slasher and destroyer of lives who sets out on a journey to deliver a key to the mysterious River Man, her child-brained sister Abby tagging along with the aid of her crutches.There isn't a dull moment in the book. When the story isn't moving, it's the beautiful prose that keeps you engaged, shrouding the girl travellers in the charged and ominous setting of a trail along a river where every character they meet could be a devil in disguise. There are flashes from Lori's past that first flesh her out, then dissect her, often hitting you in the face with a handful of guts. The story segues from the hellbound journey to a maelstrom of surrealism, leaving you breathless and awed as you near the end. Great stuff.