Dark River

by Avery Jenkins

Black Rose Writing, (October 15, 2020)

Mystery Thriller, Amateur Sleuth

Synopsis

Aging gray market dealer Asa Cire may not know exactly who he is or why he’s here, but he does know one thing: He’s going to find the murderer of the teenage girl haunting his visions, regardless of the cost.

Aided by Buddhist adept Tanya Ito and street-smart Neveah Arias, Asa tries to unravel the mystery surrounding the decades-old murder. His only leads are a small town drug dealer and a stolen manuscript that nobody can decipher.

Stalked by a Chinese mob that wants its manuscript back and the killer who wants to put Asa at the bottom of the river, Asa dodges disaster until he faces the brutal truth: To bring justice to the girl, he will have to die. Twice.

Praise

“A Taoist Jack Reacher”-Beta Reader

“This is a fine and lively read. The perfect way to get my mind off the damn pandemic. I read it in 2 glorious evenings. Tightly written. Fast-moving. Well-drawn, interesting and multi-dimensional characters. All the action and escapism I have come to expect from a Tom Clancy or Lee Child novel, but far more interesting, and much more spiritually satisfying. The author kept teaching me things as he entertained the hell out of me. I hope he’s busy writing the next book in the series now, because I’m hooked.”-Bob Corlett, Amazon

“This book is incredible. There were twists and turns constantly; I couldn’t put it down! I can’t recommend it highly enough for a non stop story lockdown page turner.”-Lina Holopainen, Goodreads

Excerpt

(Asa and one of his best friends, 35-year-old Tanya Ito, are having a discussion in the kitchen of her house in Nemaseck. Asa has stopped by to visit with his dog, Kuraĝa. Tanya mentions that she’s thinking of moving.)

“I noticed you haven’t had any boyfriends for a while,” I said, “but you haven’t seemed unhappy.”

“That’s just the thing, Asa. I’m not unhappy. But as my spirituality has grown, my need for others has diminished. And let’s face it, the pickings for relationships are pretty slim around here, especially at my age. I really don’t have the desire to go cougar cruising on Tinder.”

“I have little that I need, and less that I want,” she said. “I am close…close to something new. I want to be somewhere where I can nurture that, let it grow.”

Her look grew sad, and she stared at me for a minute. “What I need is a new pot, where my roots can grow out, and my leaves get green again.”

“But…” I began.

“But what about us, is that what you’re thinking?

“Well…yes,” I said.

She reached out and took my hand. “There is no us, Asa, there never was. Our times got screwed up. I was too young, and you are…” she looked out the window for a few seconds, and then back at me “I don’t know what you are, Asa. Particularly after yesterday.”

“You mean I’m too old to mean that much to you,” I said. “I get it. It was always that way.”

“No, not that,” she said, shaking her head. “Not that at all. I just don’t know who you are. Yes, you’re funny, and adventurous, and the most brilliant man I’ve ever known, but I’ve never known you.”

“I am who exactly is sitting across the table from you, Tanya,” I said. “Just as I always have.”

“That’s right,” she said, “that’s exactly it. Over the time that I’ve known you, I’ve grown older.

My waist is thicker, my thighs are thicker. I’ve aged. But you haven’t. You’re the same old man that I saw walking along the riverbank.”

“At my age, Tanya, things change slower,” I said. “Time goes faster when you’re old, but an older person walks through it more slowly.”

Her gaze on me hardened. For an instant, I had an image of her, alone, on a hilltop in a storm, wrapping her shawl around her. Then she spoke.

“Yes, Asa. And, exactly how old are you?”

“Oh, I go way back, Tanya. I–”

“Cut the crap, Asa.” Her voice was angry. “Tell me, when were you born?”

“A long time ago,” I said. “The exact–”

“Stop it, Asa! Stop it right now!”

Silence.

“Did you go to school? Where? What was your childhood like? Who were your parents?”

“I – I…” I closed my mouth. Inside, my gut was churning. I thought for a minute. It was so long ago, so terribly long ago. I closed my eyes, to pull something back that I could tell her.

I found nothing. It was empty.

I tried for a minute to push back on that emptiness, to find the earliest memory I had. And then I found it. I was on a bus, riding into Nemaseck for the first time.

“Do you have amnesia, Asa?” Tanya’s voice pulled me back to the present. “Were you injured, sick? Did something bad happen to you?”

“This is ridiculous, Tanya,” I said. Not angrily – I wasn’t angry – just firmly. “Ten years, twenty years, who cares? It’s ancient history. It. Doesn’t. Matter. Or, at least, it doesn’t to me, in which case it shouldn’t to you.”

“Why not? You’re someone I care about, cared about. You asked me all about my high school years yesterday, Asa, personal history certainly mattered then. Why don’t the rules apply to you?”

The question sat between us. “Because the rules don’t apply to me,” was what I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. I looked at the table, at the empty teacups over which Tanya and I had shared so much, so much laughter, what we felt and what we knew and what we saw. In my mind’s eye, our shared history rolled out before me.

“You are not exactly who I see in front of me Asa, not at all. Yesterday, I saw a man I never met. A man who was willing to throw a corpse in a river, who calculated the odds of living and dying without a single emotion, a man who looked into the future at his own possible death and sacrificed the sanctity of another man’s death without batting an eye.”

“Yes,” I said. “For my own survival. And yours.”

“Survival against what? Against who? Who are you, Asa, really? Who are you?” I was silent. I had nothing to say.

She stood up and just looked at me, her expression a mixture of anger and affection and fear, like I was a wounded dog she had found on the street. “Until you know that, I can’t love you, Asa. Not like that, and not in any other way. I’m sorry.”

I rose from my chair, searching for words that I couldn’t find, not in any language. “I’m sorry, too,” I said. It was the best I could do. For a moment, we stood, facing each other. Woman and man. Yin and yang. Young and old. Completion, in two words, two faces, two minds. There was nothing more to say.

I turned away and opened the door. I stepped out into the rain, and the wind, and as I walked to the jeep, I finally identified what I felt inside me. It was grief. How long had it been since I had felt that, I thought. I didn’t know. All I did know is it wasn’t just raindrops running down my face. They didn’t stop for a long time.

Guest Review by Nora

A fast-paced thriller/mystery with equal parts heart and grit– ‘Dark River’ is the book that keeps on giving.

Beginning with an unexpected visit from a strange woman at the house of Asa Cire, a middle-aged man living a quiet life as a dealer of antiques and rare oddities. The woman does not tell Asa why she is there and leaves quickly, leaving him confused and bewildered.

Later that night, Asa is meditating when he receives a strange vision. Although he is not unused to seeing things like the faces of friends and places that he has been in his mind when he meditates, this time the vision is not calming but frightening. Asa sees the terrified face of a teenage girl name Elle Anderson and, through some digging the next day, he discovers that the girl was murdered in an unsolved crime twenty years earlier.

With the help of his friends, Asa takes it upon himself to solve the cold case himself, and get the justice that Elle has been denied for two decades. The heart of this story comes from Asa’s interactions with his friends and the beautiful small-town setting. Avery Jenkins absolutely nails the close-knit vibe and almost magical aspect of a small community perfectly. I really enjoyed the side characters in this book and how they impacted Asa and the main mystery. I loved Tanya, the yoga teacher and I loved the will-they-or-won’t-they possible romance between her and Asa. It really added a human element to this story that a lot of mystery/thrillers forget about.

The ending of this book took me by surprise and it was definitely one that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a mystery or just a rich atmosphere and engaging characters. I give it all 5 stars.

About the Author

Dr. Avery Jenkins is a former award-winning journalist and essayist who took a 25-year break from the writing world to become a chiropractor and acupuncturist. He holds a 2nd degree black belt in the martial art of aikido and is in his final year of training to become a Daoist priest.

Dr. Jenkins lives in northwest Connecticut with his wife and two dogs of uncertain temperament. Dark River is his first novel.

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