Rivers to Blood

January 20, 2014
Lister deftly juggles multiple plot lines in his fifth John Jordan novel (after 2012’s Blood Sacrifice). In the first chapter, the Florida-based prison chaplain, who can’t resist playing detective, sees a prisoner transport van swerve off the road. When Jordan investigates, an escaped inmate knocks him unconscious. Meanwhile, a new warden is intent on installing his own man and replacing Jordan as the spiritual leader of Potter Correctional Institution; Jordan’s father, the local sheriff, faces serious opposition in an upcoming primary election, including from a subordinate; and a sexual predator serving time in the prison is forcing inmates to sodomize each other. Finally, there’s a lynching. To add to his woes, the chaplain is in a long dark night of the soul that appears to have no end. With all those balls in the air, it’s impressive that Lister doesn’t drop any, and that the pieces come together plausibly.