In the River

An intensely moving tale of survival, loss, and madness along the river's edge. A father and son fishing lesson becomes a nightmarish voyage to the sea in this visionary testament to the lengths we will go for those we love.\n"The simple story of a father and son going fishing somehow morphs into a soul-shattering tale of anxiety, loss, and vengeance wrapped in a surreal narrative about the things that can keep a person between this world and the next. Johnson is a maestro of the weird and one of the best writers in crime and horror, but this one erases all of those genres and makes him simply one of the best."―PANK Magazine\n"This is superb fiction with a raw, throbbing, aching heart at its core that is far too big to be contained within the book's pages but that is, by some bizarre magic, still there."―Vol. 1 Brooklyn\n"In the River is a brilliant offering; the pain and strange beauty of it will wash over you and sweep you away."―Scream Magazine\n"Gripping, horrifying, surreal...Think The Old Man and the Sea meets The Pearl meets Pet Sematary...But, dare I say it, In the River takes you to even darker places..."―Verbicide\nFrom the Inside Flap\nFinalist for the 2018 Wonderland Award.\nFinalist for Best Novella of the Year in the 2017 This Is Horror Awards.\nFeatured in PANK Magazine's Best of 2017.\nPraise for Jeremy Robert Johnson and IN THE RIVER
"This is superb fiction with a raw, throbbing, aching heart at its core that is far too big to be contained within the book's pages but that is, by some bizarre magic, still there."―Vol. 1 Brooklyn
"From the opening pages I was swept away with Johnson's prose and after only ten minutes of reading I felt emotionally shattered. Johnson is a fantastic writer and this is a beautifully told story."―The Grim Reader\n"The Old Man and the Sea, but dipped in Johnson's signature soup of strange. A book of cold sweats and delirium...Johnson has given us a tale that explores parental terror and grief, and ultimately leaves the heart shook."―The Inlander\n"Johnson has been long establishing himself as one of the premier writers of the weird alongside such talents as Kelly Link and Stephen Graham Jones, and with In the River, he demonstrates a depth of storytelling that cements him not just as a rising voice, but one that has arrived. In the River is a fierce, distinctive gut-punch of a read with enough gritty darkness to bring even the most jaded reader of dark fiction to their knees."―Life in Metropolis\n"The simple story of a father and son going fishing somehow morphs into a soul-shattering tale of anxiety, loss, and vengeance wrapped in a surreal narrative about the things that can keep a person between this world and the next. Johnson is a maestro of the weird and one of the best writers in bizarro, crime, and horror, but this one erases all of those genres and makes him simply one of the best."―PANK Magazine\n"A master of mood, seamlessly combining the literary with the grotesque. Johnson deserves to be a household name..."―Publishers Weekly
"Genre-bending...haunting..."―The Washington Post
"Johnson captures humanity's absurdity, our grotesqueries, sometimes our triumphs, all the while pushing past the limits of reality, transforming it into something dark, and surreal, and unforgettable."―B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
"A powerful imagination, a great talent for storytelling, writing chops that allow him to tackle any genre, and a flowing, dynamic voice that, if Johnson were a singer, would extend to an impressive eight octaves."―Electric Literature
"Surreal, visceral, and frequently unsettling...One more descriptor, while we're at it: highly entertaining. Johnson brings a pulpy urgency to the page, which blends neatly with the frequently heady concepts that he utilizes in his fiction."―Tor.com
"Johnson writes with an energy that propels you through some very dark spaces indeed and into something profoundly unsettling but nonetheless human."―Brian Evenson, author of A Co