Athol Dickson Reviews

Added November 30, 2005

River Rising

Author: Athol Dickson
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: January 2006
Genre: Fiction: Thriller/Christian
Format: Hardback
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 076420162X
Author Email/Website:
Reviewer: Phillip Tomasso III

River Rising was not what I expected. It was much, much more. I expected the story of a mysterious preacher coming to a mixed-up and needy town and, within his stay, making everything wonderful and right. What I ended up reading was something entirely different.

It is 1927 when the colored Reverend Hale Poser, raised in New Orleans, mysteriously arrives in a small, swampland of Louisiana town, reachable only by pirogue-a boat you stand in and use a pole to motor. Not necessarily welcomed with open arms, Poser looks for work, but not as a preacher. He is on a mission-as an orphan he is searching for the parents he never knew. Surprised, he witnesses black and white people living together, perhaps not in harmony, but definitely not in animosity.

Whale Poser learns is that a dark secret is buried in the town's silence. Babies sometimes disappear. When an infant is kidnapped from the hospital the night of the arrival, the town segregates. Regardless, a significant search is quickly underway. Poser joins in the effort using his pirogue to work his way through the swamp. He is certain God will lead him to the safe recovery of the baby. But after days in the swamp, lost, hungry and thirsty, Poser is now only certain that a few breaths more await him before death.

Poser cannot believe where he ends up. Instead of being rescued, he is enslaved in an even more isolated town, where a person's worst fears are realized. Revelations become apparent as this reverend decides that what needs to be done may be more dangerous to those around him than simply doing nothing at all.

Powerful, and suspenseful, this fiction thriller is an unexpected page-turner. The characters are well drawn. The setting is vibrant and vivid. The story is compelling and concise. Athol Dickson has created a timeless tale of clandestine racism, oppression and desperation, but has added to it faith, hope and love.

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