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Reviewed by Bil Howard for Readers' Favorite
After being discharged from the army, nothing ever seemed to come together for Drake Dawson. Stretching into his 40s, he still hasn’t found his niche in life and struggles with trying to pull it all together in The River’s Fortune by Ken Gorman. Having spent a large portion of his post-army years as a security guard at a large bank, Drake loses his job when the bank president’s wife comes on to him and they get caught. His good buddy, Mick Mahoney, is there to help him out and their PI firm thrives until bad press about his affair forces him to move on. For two years he travels the world, hitting gambling casinos and coming out ahead until he is nearly beaten to death in Vegas. Once again, Mahoney is there to pick up the pieces until Drake makes a colossal screw-up on a case that costs them a well-paying client. Dejected, he begins to drift once more. After landing a job as a security officer on a Mississippi riverboat, he discovers a robbery plot and a desperate criminal with ties to the Mafia. As Dawson trails him, he meets Cindy Baxter, a woman whose troubled past and loneliness are nearly equal to his own. Will either one be able to heal the restless soul of the other?
Ken Gorman does an excellent job of painting the picture of a man who has never really found the one thing that will make him happy. The River’s Fortune chronicles a deep struggle of self-esteem and confusion that goes right down into the soul of Drake Dawson. The reader is drawn into his struggle and feels the ups and downs as Drake finds happiness, only to lose it again. As the story seems to grow more and more tragic, Drake questions whether he was ever meant to be happy and the reader will groan along with him as the struggle continues. Defeats bring despair and victories are celebrated as you wind your way through Drake’s confusion. Both tragic and triumphant, The River’s Fortune is packed with the wins and losses of a gambler, colored by the search for love.
