The River Audiobook By Peter Heller cover art

The River

A Novel

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The River

By: Peter Heller
Narrated by: Mark Deakins
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About this listen

A Nominee for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Awards

National Best Seller

"A fiery tour de force…. I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful." (Alison Borden, The Denver Post)

From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip - a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence.

Wynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing.

When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in Northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey.

When they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank and decide to warn them about the fire, their search for the pair turns up nothing and no one. But: The next day, a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the man they heard? And, if he is, where is the woman?

From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.

©2019 Peter Heller (P)2019 Random House Audio
Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Sea Adventures Suspense Thriller & Suspense Adventure Wilderness Outdoor Fiction Exciting Heartfelt Scary Ranch

Critic reviews

Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee



"Utter joy... A suspenseful tale told with glorious drama and lyrical flair." —Denise Mina, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] poetic and unnerving wilderness thriller… Full of rushing life and profound consequences. Every move Jack and Wynn make along the river has the chance to kill them or those they’re trying to save, and the result is a novel that sweeps you away, each page filled with wonder and awe for a natural world we can quantify with science but can rarely predict with emotion." —Tod Goldberg, USA Today

"Engaging...satisfying... Terse and tight. Short, lyrical paragraphs are packed with action and keep the story moving along... Like a lot of backcountry missions, the most compelling parts of the story aren’t necessarily the rapids or the high-risk moves. Instead they’re the quiet moments where Wynn and Jack are coupling their rods together and wading slowly through vivid, tannic streams." —Heather Hansman, Outside Magazine

What listeners say about The River

Highly rated for:

Gripping Adventure Story Compelling Character Development Descriptive Nature Writing Suspenseful Plot Twists
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The River

It was okay. A bit boring but I guess it would depend on the mood you are in. Saw lots of potential for some exciting listening but it never happened.

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Thrilling!

I sruggled to take a break from this one! One of my favorites. (:

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A little boring

The second half of the story is better than the first but it’s a little boring.

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Outstanding

Great narration of a gripping story. I highly recommend this book for anybody who likes outdoor adventures.

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Great story well told

A very well told and totally enthralling story of being in nature and paddling on rivers and through forests. You really feel like you are in the canoe with the two main characters the entire time. Grabs you and won’t let go.

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Hold on to your seats!

Wonderful
Could not put the book down.
Having seen the Teton Mtns on fire; close enough to hear the trees busting into flames, I was waiting with anticipation on how author was going to write about the fire. Peter Heller did a marvelous job! Breath taking.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Good Read but it could have been shorter.

This book is well narrated if narrator is Mark Deakins. I got another by a woman and she was too fast even tho I set the speed as slow as I could. I thought the description of the scenery were too long. Burn scenes were good.

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Great read!

I have read Heller’s other book Dog Star and loved it so I wanted to read more. This is a great story that I found compelling and powerful.
I heartily recommend this to those who love the outdoors and treasure friendship

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Lacking

Story ok. But it felt drawn out and lacking More like a made for TV special.

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Sitting on the edge of my seat!

A 2019 favorite for me! I love exciting, energy packed books and this is one of them! I read a lot of criticisms by people who, apparently, are quite the outdoor campers and found lots of complaints about the story, e.g., too many mentions of blueberries. Total minutiae. I found this story to be so engrossing, nerve wracking and quite believable. The narrator is one of my favorites as well. I think this book really brings you into the moment by moment experience of something I never want to see....a full on forest fire. I learned a lot about forest fires, their behavior and their power. Don't miss this harrowing adventure.

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