Colleen Snyder. Verdict at the River’s Edge. Forget Me Not Romances, 2020.

Verdict at the River’s Edge may be billed as a romance, but the romance is truly secondary. This is a kind of coming of age story. It is set in rural West Virginia, but its backdrop is completely urban.

Miss Collin Walker is a twenty-six year-old social worker who specializes in teenagers. A West Virginia summer camp far from her coastal city of Oakton offers inner city youths with promise a free week of camping. One of Collin’s charges, Rob, has been chosen, and she gets to go, too, to help out and to enjoy some of the recreation herself.

Rob is one of a about half a dozen young people aged twelve to seventeen who have decided to devote the week primarily to white water rafting. No one has had any experience, but Mitch the instructor assures them they can do it if they put real effort into it and work together. Collin can see the working together part a challenge since the kids come from different parts of town with their own neighborhood and gang loyalties.

We also learn that Collin has a fear of rivers. We understand from the beginning that something traumatic happened to her on a river, but it is a while before we find out what it is. She cannot talk about it. It is hard enough for her to mention that she had a twin brother who died. Her challenge, then, is to make peace with the river.

So, yes, the inner-city youths like Rob begin to see things in a different light, but we realize that Collin herself has to change as well. She may be a trained and certified counselor, but she also has to face her fears and grow. The narration often reveals her thoughts which demonstrate something that all of us have to deal with: How do we discern the true thoughts from the false? The voice of God from the impulses of the flesh?

Verdict at the River’s Edge is well written. It has authentic and realistic dialogue and a good amount of action. Yes, there is action at the camp on basketball courts as well as on the river. There are other things going on as well—a disguised intruder that the camp workers call Big Foot appears at night from time to time and causes trouble for Collin. The camp janitor, Jeff, is looking out for her and seems to be taking an interest in her. We learn, again thanks to past traumas, that she has trouble trusting anyone, especially a man. She assumes the worst. There is a lot going on, and a lot for her to overcome.

This fast-paced entertaining novel spins a yarn that keeps us going. As one who taught high school for forty years, I can say that she gets teenagers. The description of the basketball games are very well done. Basketball is one sport I do not especially follow but she makes the contests sound exciting even to someone like me. I was reminded a bit of Trollope’s descriptions of a fox hunt—I knew nothing about them but after reading him, I can see why people like them. Maybe I’ll pay more attention to the NBA playoffs this year…