(Note: This show first aired back in March.) Our guest is the Colorado-based writer Peter Heller, who tells us about his new novel, "The River." Per The Denver Post: "A fiery tour de force [of] poetic, staccato sentences and masterfully crafted prose.... The story itself resembles a trip down a river -- some parts are peaceful and allow for quiet introspection and big, deep breaths. But then you hit the rapids and the danger and risk jump off the page, forcing a sense of urgency. In those thrilling parts, reading required self-discipline. I wanted to know what happened so badly that I'd read too fast and had to retrace my steps to savor Heller's storytelling. And what a story he tells.... I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful."
"The River: A Novel" (Encore Presentation)
![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4b3b7cc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1333+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkwgs%2Ffiles%2F201908%2Fheller-book.jpg)