Book Review: Samaritan

Reviewed By: Ruth Jordan - RAM

Samaritan     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Richard Price
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
2003 Knopf 379 pages/ $25.00

Some authors write on the page, some authors bring life to the page but the very best authors make you forget there are any pages involved in their tale. Richard Price accomplishes this last feat in his newest offering SAMARITAN.

The story opens with a father telling his teenage daughter a tale from his youth. Fast forward to present day. The man is in ICU after a brutal attack and police-woman Nerese Ammons wants to know who put him there. And so do we. As the story unfolds in true Price fashion the characters are revealed along with the plot. Seamless dialog accomplished by few in literature gives the reader a feeling more akin to eavesdropping than reading.

The backdrop to the tale is a Jersey Project where Nerese and Ray Mitchell (our victim) grew up. The forefront of the tale is where this incident and the unraveling of it will take them both. Nobody writing today has the same recipe of setting, character and dialog as Richard Price and whenever you think the next book can’t be any better he comes back and slaps you on the head with his ever expanding talent.

From the ever running trains in SAMARITAN to the view of the crane where the Twin Towers should stand place and time watch over this tale with an often brutal honesty. And then it’s over and you wish Mr. Price had the next book written.

Ruth Jordan - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ruth Jordan - RAM