{"id":1239,"date":"2018-12-30T16:11:33","date_gmt":"2018-12-30T21:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2018-12-30T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T21:24:07","slug":"the-current","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/30\/the-current\/","title":{"rendered":"The Current"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Tim Johnston
\nAlgonquin Books, ISBN: 978-1616206772
\nHardcover, 416 pages. \u00a9 2019<\/p>\n

An unexpected winter road trip across several states toward a small town in Minnesota lands college students Audrey and Caroline in the icy waters of the Black Root River. Audrey survives. Caroline does not. Despite Audrey\u2019s claims that their car was deliberately pushed into the river, no concrete evidence is found. But small-town people talk, and Audrey\u2019s brush with death hits too close to home, shaking loose painful memories of another young woman\u2019s body pulled from that same river, ten years earlier. No evidence was found then, either. Families and police alike have lived with that uncertainty for far too long.<\/p>\n

Now Audrey begins to put the pieces together. She can\u2019t\u2014won\u2019t\u2014let go and move on. She knows who the locals suspected all those years ago, but Audrey\u2019s not convinced. She believes the two events are connected, and she\u2019s determined to figure it out, no matter what the consequences.<\/p>\n

I happened on this advanced reading copy of The Current<\/em> at a book swap, and wow am I ever grateful I picked it up. From the very first page, author Tim Johnston reeled me in until by page 22, there was no putting it down. Pacing is well done, bringing the reader to peaks of tension over and over, with \u201crests\u201d in between just long enough to heap more layers onto this already intricate mystery before building again. Throughout, the narrative doles out shrewd clues and hints, not enough to give anything away but plenty to keep you guessing and turning the pages. Even though I began to suspect the actual antagonist long before the actual reveal, I wasn\u2019t sure until near the end.<\/p>\n

But The Current<\/em> is far more than a who-done-it mystery. It\u2019s a suspense-filled thriller, through and through. There are a couple of moments that had me sitting with my hand over my mouth, as if I were actually in the scene. The scariest part, for me, was that it felt so real. While this particular story is fiction, it could happen anywhere. Anytime. And sometimes it does. Look through the investigative records in any U.S. state, and you\u2019re likely to find at least a few similar cases that slipped through the fingers of law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The characters really came alive throughout the story, as did the scenes. Johnston\u2019s evocative descriptions involve all the senses so that the reader is easily able to get inside the characters\u2019 heads in an edge-of-your-seat, immersive reading experience. Coming from a small town myself, I feel like Johnston captures that quiet but distinctive expectation small-town people have of each other, how they both look out for and besmirch one another as a matter of course. Were it farther South and East (and quite a few years ago), I might have known these people, all of whom are relatable in one way or another. Audrey is the main protagonist, yet while I empathized with her plight, I felt more drawn to Marky\u2019s non-neurotypical point of view. I looked forward to scenes where I could hear his thoughts and try to anticipate what he was doing and why.<\/p>\n

One thing I particularly liked about Johnston\u2019s style is the way he drops the reader into the sort of stream-of-consciousness type of thinking that most of us probably utilize, but is often hard to express in words. For me, it felt more organic than the clipped depiction of internal processing where one thought follows another in logical procession. Especially with Marky\u2019s scenes, this helped me feel more attuned with the characters and what they were actually thinking\/feeling. In addition to this, Johnston handles several sensitive, potentially triggering moments in the book with grace, compassion and understanding. Personally, I found inspiration and encouragement in Audrey\u2019s determination. I expect others will as well.<\/p>\n

The Current<\/em> is a wild ride on a small-town scale that will make you hang on for all you\u2019re worth. If you enjoy a good thriller, you won\u2019t want to miss it. Due to be released January 22, 2019, you can pre-order now. Check out links on the author\u2019s page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Johnston Algonquin Books, ISBN: 978-1616206772 Hardcover, 416 pages. \u00a9 2019 An unexpected winter road trip across several states toward a small town in Minnesota lands college students Audrey and Caroline in the icy waters of the Black Root River. Audrey survives. Caroline does not. Despite Audrey\u2019s claims that their car was deliberately pushed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-jZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5960,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/bobiverse-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":1239,"position":0},"title":"Bobiverse Series","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Dennis E. Taylor Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency Worldbuilders Press I originally reviewed book 1 (We Are Legion) in the Bobiverse series back in December of 2024, and highly recommended it for sci-fi fans, and especially fans of Star Trek. I finally got around to reading the other four books\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Book2-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2822,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/13\/achilles-in-heels\/","url_meta":{"origin":1239,"position":1},"title":"Achilles In Heels","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Theophanes Avery \u00a9 2020 ISBN: 9798678763990 266 pages When Thetis learns from the soothsayer that her newborn Achilles is doomed to die in battle, Thetis thinks she can outwit the Fates by dipping Achilles in the River Styx, which renders him invulnerable. But as he gets older, she begins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/AchillesInHeels-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1116,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/22\/double-down-boost-your-impact-with-targeted-prose\/","url_meta":{"origin":1239,"position":2},"title":"Double-Down: Boost your Impact with Targeted Prose","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"October 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, I signed up to read at a local Hampton Roads Writers \u201cShow and Grow\u201d event, where writers can read their work in front of an audience and receive brief critiques afterward from a 2-person panel of professionals. I\u2019d done it once before, years ago, and got a lot out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/target-1551492_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/target-1551492_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/target-1551492_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/target-1551492_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/target-1551492_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":830,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/04\/kindred\/","url_meta":{"origin":1239,"position":3},"title":"Kindred","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By Octavia Butler Beacon Press, ISBN: 978-0807083698 Paperback, 264 pages. \u00a9 2003 Dana and her husband, Kevin, are unpacking boxes in their new home the first time she is called away. 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It\u2019s also a place where fae, registered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/082-Light-My-Pyre-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/23\/confessions-of-a-writer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1239,"position":5},"title":"Confessions of a Writer","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my classmates submits some of the most beautiful prose for critique. In his last class submission, his character drives through small rural backwater towns with no traffic lights, where the gas pumps still sport analog dials. The character speaks of being a voyeur, seeing only that moment in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1243,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}