The Current (Johnston) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Pick up Tim Johnston's suspenseful novel The Current and you risk finding yourself glued to your chair, eyes to the pages, no thought of attending to daily obligations. Johnston's elegant, cinematic style takes us into the characters' lives and history, problems and concerns. The book examines that horrifying moment when everything changes, the before and after when love, friendship, hopes and trust turn into dread, guilt, blame and grief.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


Gripping as it is, Johnston’s masterful novel is worth lingering over—it soars above the constraints of a traditional thriller and pulls you deep into the secrets of a grief-stricken town.
People
 

Johnston dazzled with his breakout thriller, Descent; his follow-up is a more ambitious page-turner, unpacking how a shocking murder impacts the denizens of a small Minnesota town as they weather suspicion, guilt, and grief.
Entertainment Weekly
 
 
Tim Johnston’s gripping second novel is much more than a skillfully constructed, beautifully written whodunit. It’s a subtle and lyrical acclamation of the heart and spirit of small-town America. The Current is not your conventional, frenetically paced page-turner, although it smolders with a brooding, slow-burn tension that nudges the reader forward, catching you up in the lives of the troubled solitaries at the book’s core.
Washington Independent Review of Books
 

(Starred review) [O]utstanding…. Johnston imbues each character with believable motives. The nuanced plot delves deep into how a community—and surviving relatives—deal with the aftermath of a death.
Publishers Weekly


I would have taken a break long before 2:00 a.m. last night were it not for Johnston’s masterly ability to rummage inside the heads of his various characters.… We need a little hyperbole if we’re going to adequately describe how much we love a Tim Johnston novel. —Bill Ott
Booklist


(Starred review) [H]aunting…. [T]his novel has at its heart a strong belief that love… is the one thing that truly saves us… [The title] functions as a beautiful metaphor for all the secrets and emotions roiling beneath the surface of every human life.
Kirkus Reviews