Black River
S.M. Hulse, 2015
240 pp.

Book Review by Molly Lundquist
March, 2015
No wonder everyone is stunned: this 30-something author writes with the strength and surety of a far older and seasoned writer. Black River is, in a word, gorgeous: and it contains a wisdom far beyond S.M. Hulse's young years.

The outline of the story seems straightforward: a retired corrections officer returns to Black River, Montana, to bury his wife's ashes and to confront a man who tortured him during a prison riot years ago. The prisoner is now up for parole.

But as with all good fiction, Hulse avoids the easy delineation of good versus evil. The line, she shows us, is never ever simple.

The heart of the story centers on Wes Carver's confrontation, not with his torturer but with his own stepson, Dennis. Alienated and abandoned by Wes, Dennis, now 34, carries his own anger and resentments—he's more like his stepfather than either acknowledges. The two men must reach some equilibrium, at least long enough to dispense with Claire's ashes.

But it's not easy. At his core, Wes believes that sons carry the sins of their fathers; Dennis's father was a bounder and, in Wes's world view, so must be his son. Add to that Wes's tenuous hold on religion: how, he wonders, is forgiveness possible? Is it possible for a soul filled with evil to be cleansed, even by newly found faith? Who is worthy of forgiveness? Can he forgive his torturer, and can Dennis forgive him?

A horse, violin, and a gifted teenager become tipping points for redemption. What in less talented hands could easily become melodramatic and syrupy is reigned in with precise, spare and elegantly controlled language. Hulse is a beautiful stylist...and this is a beautiful book.

See our Reading Guide for Black River.