Because it was only girls… In the river. It’s always been only girls.


The Current is not your ordinary mystery/thriller; in fact, I would strongly discourage those who enter its icy, frozen Minnesotan (and Iowan) world to read it solely for the mystery, or else dissuade altogether those looking for a fast-paced thriller.



What Johnston has written instead are immensely literary and exceedingly woeful, harrowing character studies of those who are trapped in present and past traumas—all of which collide when one college girl is assaulted on the way home to visit her dying father, the town’s ex-sheriff, and she and her friend go into the icy river. The opening chapter depicting this scene is claustrophobic and written so close-to-the bone that it’s hard not to keep reading when the book then splits into different characters—often simply beginning chapters with pronouns, so that it takes the reader a few pages to disengage from what came before and orient his or her way toward what’s taking place now, and with whom.

Johnston’s true skill here is his prose: this is masterfully written, almost with echoes of McCarthy, Robinson, Sam Michel, Schutt, Faulkner, and others, yet all the while in Johnston’s own undeniable voice. The prose is what carries one through the bleak world of The Current, and Johnston’s versatility is centerstage when moving between past and present, showing how interrelated they are for people stuck in their own individual traumas. I was very often awed by some passages’ abilities to evoke, to suggest, to reveal the deep winter in which the story takes place as it mirrors so acutely the characters’ dark interior worlds:


Did it fade with time, with age? Or did the thing you fought inside yourself just grow bigger, hungrier, until it took you over?

If this book doesn’t leave you feeling frozen, like you’ve been stuck in an ice-cold river in a Minnesotan storm, I would be shocked, floored. And if this book doesn’t leave you moved in terms of how it questions generational trauma, isolation, and sexual assault, then the tremendous empathy Johnston’s book holds up to the light of humanity is but a mirror for whatever demons you harbor inside you. ( )

Enjoyable with shifting points of view. Some indication of changes in culture over 10 years. ( )

This was the first time I have read anything by Mr. Johnston, and this book was intriguing enough that I already have his previous novel “Descent” on my to-read list. ⁣
This story is told by several different narrators, and we are also whisked back to the past by a crime that shook the small town where Audrey grew up. Audrey falls victim to this same crime, and we are slowly given glimpses into the past & present by the police involved, the victim’s family, and the accused party and their family. Certain chapters and prose seemed to drag a little, but never considered skipping ahead. ⁣
This book leads us to believe certain things, and rips out the rug from under us. If this was a more cliched novel, then certain events in the book wouldn’t have transpired the way they did. I can see by other reviews that some were unhappy about the ending, and while I did wish we could have found out some things, I also realize how more realistic this is compared to a majority of crimes ( )

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

I seem to be in the minority here - I did not enjoy this at all. Most of the time I was left wondering if what was going on was in someone's head. I usually enjoy stories that have many characters, and told by multiple view points; however we have Rachel, Audrey, Eileen, Danny, Sheriff, Gordon, Caroline, etc etc. Through each we get snippets of information, and a whole lot of ... nothing? I felt like I was pulling teeth to get at the story. I could not get past when Audrey wakes up in the hospital after the accident. I have no idea what really happened except who the killer is because I flipped forward.

Having said all this, I do wonder whether it was the format of the digital ARC I was reading on my phone that made it unenjoyable to read physically. I plan on getting a paper copy once it comes out and giving it a second try. ( )

Two crimes involving girls that die in the river 10 years apart - sounds promising. However, the story is told in the present and the past from different viewpoints, and it gets draggy and confusing at times to figure out exactly who is talking. It's a dark, depressing story, and one that I didn't find nearly as absorbing as the author's first book "Descent." ( )