I received a free electronic copy of the ARC of this novel from Netgalley, J S James, and Crooked Lane Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. J S James writes a fast, incredibly detailed story with personable characters and an intricate mystery. You will be right there, in Williamette Valley, Oregon with the Polk County Sheriffs officers as they work through the ins and outs of this story. I thoroughly enjoyed Delia Chavez, and hope there are more books featuring her. She is a strong, intelligent, and dedicated woman, one who stands for law and order and is a good role model for women in the ranks of the policing forces of the USA.

Couldn't get sucked into this. Had a strangely slow pace that I didn't completely love. Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Great book for first novel although I was not a total fan of the style. The story line was excellent but was in my view overdone with local content related to river life, using many strange colloquialisms and slang to describe events and places. This aside plot is very good and executed with a good amount of thrilling action. You may have to be a hunter appreciate this fully as in this part of Oregon it appears to be all that matters to some. The author also clearly shows the flaws in the local policing system system in the US with little or no oversight on their operations. All in all I think this is a great book for your first attempt, if only I had that talent.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, this was a new author for me and I have to say I really enjoyed it, I highly recommend her to to everyone and I hope I get the chance to read more by this author,. The book was very easy to follow along with and kept my mind in it I didn’t want to put it down there were great characters involved and a great storyline.

Weird pacing, not enough focus on the main character, and an overall dryness to the plot make for a super-localized cop thriller that feels generic and doesn't really grab you.

This was a book that I finished not because I was enjoying it, not because I was curious, but because it wasn't bad enough to warrant giving up on. This has a police procedural TV show feel about it: every little plausible plot point was forced onto the small cast of characters until it completely stopped being plausible. We have an awkward forced romance, we have woman with a sordid past, we have the crooked cops, we have the accidental millionaire, we have trigger-happy vigilante, we have the "functioning alcoholic", we have the only good cop in town... And that's only 3 people!

By the time I finally untangled all the tropes, the resolution was obvious and I just wanted to make it to the end. There's little to no description of what could have been a very present setting. One of the main female characters is literally a walking sex joke. It just... Wasn't worth all the time I spent on it.

It didn't make me angry (which is why it gets 2 stars instead of 1) and it wasn't particularly offensive, but you can definitely find a better police procedural with a Latina main character.

An interesting start to a new series. Delia Chavez, a new detective, finds herself on the spot when she's assigned to the case of hunters being found dead with their trigger finger removed. Then the evil Sheriff Grice also assigns her to find a fugitive. Honestly, one or the other plot lines would have been enough. This packs a lot without giving much sense of Delia, who while she comes off as a tough officer, doesn't shine as much as she should. There's also a fair amount of unrealistic stuff. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Fans of the Pacific Northwest procedural might enjoy this for the local color.

I find the language rather tiring, stilted and jumping into scenes. The worst, however, is that the author is skipping the scenes that could have been suspenseful. I thought the point was to put in as much suspense as possible in a book. This is just a boring procedural with a little nonsense added.

*5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read with interesting characters. What Delia went through in her personal and work life must have been hard. It was good that she had good friends and work mates. I really liked the ending to the book.

A sheriff desperate to be reelected, a department in disarray and Sheriff’s Deputy Delia Chavez trying to make a difference. Is it murder or suicide when an elderly couple are found dead on their porch? As department staffing is at an all-time low, Delia is hoping to be promoted to detective when the first body is found, a body missing the trigger finger. It is waterfowl season and soon more bodies are found the same way. Is someone killing them to protest hunting? Meanwhile, the department is on alert for an AWOL soldier who may be in the area. Who is this mystery soldier and why the urgency to locate him? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy) = 3.5 stars

While River Run gets off to an interesting start with Deputy Sheriff Delia Chavez working to become Detective, the pace stalls with distracting subplots and a couple of unbelievable characters. In fact, the characters and situations offered so little appeal that the book was difficult to finish. The premise really hooks reader interest, but the execution does not deliver.

This was an ok read for me. The pace of the mystery dragged for me and slowed down the story. I felt the characters could be fleshed out a bit more.

River Run by J.S. James is a taut and action-packed thriller with a good number of twists. Despite the lukewarm reviews, I trudged on with this one and found that really liked it. The book has a good number of thrills and chills and I found certain parts of the book to be absolutely chilly. Det. Delia Chavez is one badass cop to watch out for! I found myself easily hooked to the book!

When bodies of hunters with their trigger fingers missing begin to surface on the Williamette, the newly promoted detective Delia Chavez must find out who's killing these men and why. Despite the protests from the animal rights group, hunters continue to enjoy the game during waterfowl season while a silent killer takes them down, one-by-one. To make matters worse, the Sherrif asks Delia to hunt down a wanted fugitive known to be hiding around the same river. Sherrif Grice has had it in for Delia from day 1, finding fault with the minutest of things. As the body count of the hunters begins to grow, Delia must put a stop to the killings while also finding and bringing a wanted fugitive to justice. Are the two cases connected? Is the fugitive the one killing the hunters? And why is Sherrif Grice so secretive and receiving calls from a navy officer?

All characters of this book were explained well and the plot was exciting and thrilling to uncover. Detective Delia Chavez is the newly minted detective, looking to prove her worth unbeknownst to her in a department filled with corruption. Following her journey on a personal and professional level, I couldn't help but be drawn to this new heroine. Even the supporting characters, however, twisted or plain weird, were explained very well To be honest, I found the writing style and lingo to be a tad bit difficult to follow, also due to the fact that this book has a lot of content on hunting and boats, two things that I have absolutely no clue about. The dialogues laced with sarcasm were a delight to read. I really like it when characters emote with sarcastic thoughts and words. But all said and done, this book managed to keep my interest going and am glad I picked this one up. This book laid a good foundation for the next books to follow in the series. I can't wait to learn more about Delia & Jerzy. Maybe see Enrique too. I loved the ending in this one and am looking forward to the next in the Delia Chavez series. This was a great debut mystery by J. S. James!

Thank You, NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and J. S. James for an arc!

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc. I will be reviewing this book in the near future with an honest rating and review.

An exciting new debut from J.S. James; the first book in the Delia Chavez series.

Delia has no family, but she has her career and a driving urge to solve gruesome crimes. As bodies begin to wash up, each hunters with their trigger fingers missing, it seems that Chavez's new position as a sheriff's deputy is shaping up to place her the middle of a clash between local hunters and animal rights activists, involving a corrupt sheriff.

The pace of this title is inconsistent, but the author definitely has promise, and if the storyline sounds intriguing to you, give it a try!

I couldn't finish this one. Too many details were unbelievable. The characters didn't make me feel invested. It took way to long to get to the case that starts the big mystery. I thought from the first chapter that it was going to be a great read. Unfortunately, after that it seemed to go into left field.

A murder mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. A newly assigned detective. A corrupt sheriff. Duck hunting. Should be a good story, right? Not so in this case.
Too many characters, none of who are really "fleshed out", so you feel like you know them. Too many unrealistic details. Sheriff's department employees who use their own personal cars for patrol? Using said vehicles to drive 110 mph, blowing through city intersections? "Thumbing off the safety...she steadied the chunky revolver"? Sheriff's department employees, the corrupt and the honest, hired without background checks? Multiple murders, stretching across multiple jurisdictions, all kept "secret" under the control of one sheriff? No. Just no.
I finished this book, but was left feeling cheated and disappointed.

Delia Chavez begins her new career as a deputy with a bang when she finds the body of a hunter in the Willamette River. The strangest part about the body is that it’s missing its trigger finger. And he’s only the first dead hunter to turn up, all of whom are missing their trigger fingers. An anti-hunter gone vigilante? Delia is more than a little afraid, but she knows she needs to find the killer or she’s going to keep finding dead bodies. Delia is a refreshing change from the know it all, fearless cops who frequent most mysteries