Book review: Above The Waterfall by Ron Rash

Following recent forays into Hollywood, where his adapted screenplays, Serena and The World Made Straight, flopped, Ron Rash, a winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, returns to the novel form.

His latest, Above The Waterfall, tackles environmentalism, small town politics, the ravages of drugs — both on families and the user themselves — and police ethics (and bribes).

It also has plenty of cliches: Sheriff Les Clary is laden down by excess baggage, blaming himself for the near-suicide of his now ex-wife, and only has three weeks to retirement. Naturally enough, that’s where the story picks up.