A WALK DOWN RUSHVILLE

Burton presents a novel about a widow with family troubles who must deal with threats after witnessing an attack.

Journalist Skyler Bennett loves to walk. Although she lost her beloved husband, Tim, some years ago, she stays in good spirits thanks to evening rambles with her black Labrador retriever, Mousse. One evening when Skyler is on a ramble in her Southern California neighborhood, she’s alarmed by a cry for help. One of her neighbors, a woman named Kate, has been stabbed, and Skyler manages to get a look at the assailant before he flees. She provides a description to the police, but later, she receives a threatening text, which may be from the attacker. Back in Skyler’s hometown of Edenton, North Carolina, her mother is terminally ill, so she makes the cross-country flight to try to mend her troubled relationship with her parent and her difficult sister, Kay, whom she later learns is struggling with alcohol addiction. After an inebriated Kay is struck by a car while crossing the street,the siblings’ relationship only worsens. After Skyler returns to California, her fear of retribution from Kate’s attacker returns; however, it turns out that she has some very helpful neighbors—and she’ll certainly need their assistance in the trying days to come. Burton’s narrative supplies a welcome amount of twists and turns, shifting from a mystery-thriller about an unknown threat to an affecting literary novel about a woman’s homecoming after a 30-year absence; the unpredictability of what will happen next keeps Skyler’s adventure humming along, particularly when she winds up dealing with some sticky situations. It is a dialogue-heavy adventure, though, with some occasionally bland small-talk and unhelpful descriptions, as when a character’s expression is said to shift from “confusion to uncertainty.” Ultimately, though, even a savvy reader won’t foresee the ending, or even many of the smaller developments along the way.  

A surprising, genre-blending journey with sentimental appeal.