Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash (2015)

I tend to write reviews that catalog a book's shortcomings, that point out what the author did wrong and how he or she could have done it better. But that won't be the case here; I can't think of a single way Ron Rash could have improved this novel. It may not be innovative or cutting edge or politically topical, but it seems to me that what Rash sets out to do he accomplishes perfectly. I am very impressed.

This is the story of Les, the longtime sheriff in an Appalachian town, and Becky, an introverted park ranger. The two share a love for their mountain home but mistrust themselves and their tentative relationship because of their past mistakes. Les imagines that a dating site listing for their relationship would read,"Man who encouraged clinically depressed wife to kill herself seeks women, traumatized by school shooting, who later lived with ecoterrorist bomber." When Becky's only other friend, an elderly local eccentric, is accused of poisoning the trout stream of a nearby resort, she and Les face a test of loyalties and have hard decisions to make.

These are a few of the reasons why I have only praise for this book.

*The character development is extraordinarily well done. These seem like real people. Even the dialogue for each character is distinctive, including the backwoods dialect of the uneducated mountain characters. Ron Rash has a fine ear.

*Few writers, to my knowledge, are so adept at communicating a sense of place, telling stories that convey the sights, sounds, and smells of the landscape and making the environment immersive and part of the fabric of the story. Rash is also a poet, and here he cleverly allows Becky, as one of two alternating first-person narrators, to express the lyrical poetry of nature through her journal entries and thoughts, while giving Les, the other first-person narrator, the task of advancing the story.

*The mystery of who poisoned the stream and why is not the central consideration, but it does add further plot tension. However, it does not just seem tacked on, as I have experienced in other novels. The participants in the drama and the connections to the setting bring it into the realm of character development, which is the focus.

*The writing style is unobtrusive while being powerful and poetic.

I wish all novels were this good.