RED RIVER SEVEN, by A.J. Ryan

Amnesia has been used often, with varying degrees of success, to heighten the drama of a narrative background, but the way it was used in Red River Seven did not feel like a tired trope, on the contrary it enhanced the claustrophobic weight of the unknown hanging over the characters and their fate.

The story starts with a bang – not a proverbial one, but rather the noise of an actual gunshot which startles a man awake: as he looks around him, he sees a dead man, the one who just shot himself. Confused and bewildered, and realizing that he has no memory of his own identity or how he ended up here (wherever “here” is), the newly awakened man sees a name tattooed on the dead one’s wrist – Conrad – and looking at his own sees another tattoo: Huxley. Soon enough, he discovers he’s not alone, two more men and three women share space with him and all of them sport tattoos of famous writers’ names, which are Golding and Pynchon for the other two men, and Plath, Rhys and Dickinson for the three women: they appear to be traveling on a remotely controlled boat being driven along a river blanketed by a dense, reddish fog.

As the six survivors try to get some bearings in their puzzling situation, they become aware that while their identities and past remain a mystery, each of them possesses specialized skills, a sort of “muscle memory” that’s completely disconnected from any identifying detail. Soon enough they are contacted by a sexless voice through a satellite phone and given precise, if puzzling, instructions for missions in which each individual’s skills will play a pivotal role. All the while, they realize that something terrible must have happened, because from the fog-shrouded river banks come inhuman cries and the creatures they manage to glimpse through some breaks in the fog have little or no resemblance to human beings….

This is going to be a very short review because I don’t feel comfortable sharing more of the plot for Red River Seven: the less we know, the more we can appreciate this story, one where for once I did not mind the lack of focus on characterization, because the relentless pace of events – not to mention the six people’s amnesia – leaves little space for anything else: readers find themselves in the same state of ignorance as the protagonists, and the slow buildup of clues paints an increasingly horrifying picture whose piecemeal discoveries add to the heavy pall of anxiety hanging over the events.

The constant fog is indeed a representation of the characters’ situation: blind to their past and to their present, they are forced to cooperate to accomplish the tasks they are given without knowing the reason why they are doing them, and having to battle the paranoia born of the circumstances they found themselves in and of the mutual lack of trust. This makes for a very compelling and compulsive read in which the revelation feels less important than the buildup that precedes it: this is the kind of story whose descriptions of the eerie background take you straight to the heart of the narrative and create a very immersive experience that more often than not takes your breath away.

Red River Seven was my first book by Mr. Ryan, who I’m aware is more known for his fantasy novels rather than this foray into SF/horror, but it will certainly not be my last: this kind of powerful, captivating writing is indeed perfect material for my TBR…

My Rating: