"Heavy with exposition in its early sections, Lesley's second novel waits too long to achieve its potential, but it displays the same knowledge of Native American culture and rich evocation of the Oregon's Columbia River valley that distinguished his well-received Winterkill. In this sequel, Nez Perce Danny Kachiah has grown older and more conscious of the vanishing culture to which he belongs. Sobered by the recent death of his former wife Loxie in a car accident, Danny welcomes the arrival of his 17-year-old son Jack, whom he barely knows. Danny sees their belated reunion as an opportunity to educate Jack in the tribal traditions. He also hopes to discourage the boy from taking up the career of rodeo riding that Danny himself once pursued. When a friend's grandson drowns and mourning custom forces the man to stay off the river for a year, Danny and Jack take over his fishing boat. They battle nature, the ghost of Loxie, who haunts them both, and sport fishermen who want to drive the Indians off the river. While the prose is crisp and clean and the dialogue gritty and natural, the novel does not engage the reader until its halfway mark. From this point however, as the narrative tension mounts, Lesley also begins to convey the magic of Indian ways. Readers who persist will be rewarded with a story that is, in the end, quietly but resonantly memorable." Publishers Weekly

"[W]hile conveying so much information to readers unfamiliar with the territory, a small family of characters emerges. In love and in conflict, they are burdened by all the human frailties and dreams." Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times

"Winterkill was a spell of language I wanted never to end, and blessedly the story now flows on in River Song. Craig Lesley has given us another greathearted book." Ivan Doig

"Craig Lesley's style flows like a river, always irresistibly carving its course to the end." Robert Rafferty, The Washington Post Book World

"A skillfully told story that illuminates the plight of American Indians as they battle to keep their way of life." Michael Lichtenstein, The New York Times Book Review

"The Native American characters, the Pacific Northwest settings, and the Nez Perce tribal lore all combine to provide a new way of looking at the old themes of the rites of passage and of the community of all living things." Library Journal

Danny Kachiah is an Oregonian Nez Perce drifter who is eager to learn the traditional ways and pass them on to his son, Jack. After the death of his wife, Danny joins forces with an old River Indian, and comes face to face with ghosts from his past.

Craig Lesley is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for both Winterkill and for his third novel, The Sky Fisherman. He is also the author of Storm Rider. He lives in Portland Oregon with his wife and two daughters.