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BOOK INFO

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BOOK BLURB

A gritty tale of how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love for fans of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone from Gale Massey, a talented new name in crime fiction.

Everyone says the Elders family are nothing but cheats, thieves, and convicts, a fact nineteen-year old Jamie Elders has been trying desperately to escape. She may have the natural talent of a poker savant, but her dreams of going pro and getting the hell out of the tiny town of Blind River, New York are going nowhere fast. Especially once she lands in a huge pile of debt to her uncle Loyal.

At Loyal’s beck and call until her debt is repaid, Jamie can’t easily walk away, not with her younger brother Toby left at his mercy. So when Loyal demands Jamie’s help cleaning up a mess late one night, she has no choice but to agree. But disposing of a dead man and covering up his connection to the town’s most powerful judge goes beyond family duty. When it comes out that the victim was a beloved athlete and Loyal pins the murder on Toby, only Jamie can save him. But with a dogged detective on her trail and her own future at stake, she’ll have to decide: embrace her inner criminal, or defy it; and face the consequences.

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MY REVIEW

Jamie Elders desperately wants to escape her small town, and her family’s reputation as criminals. Unfortunately, she makes a poor decision, and winds up in debt to her uncle. Since she is now in debt to him, he expects her to follow his demands. One night, those demands include disposing of a dead man. With Jamie’s future on the line, she must decide to be a criminal, or follow the law.

The Girl From Blind River is a debut novel by Gale Massey. Well developed characters in an interesting story. Jamie is 19-years-old, and dreams of playing poker professionally. She grew up around card games, and has a knack for it. The story has a lot to do with poker, which I found fun to read.

Jamie makes plenty of bad decisions, as do other characters in The Girl From Blind River, but I kept cheering for her. She has a heartbreaking backstory, but stayed smart and strong.

I received a physical copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.