The River: A Novel of the American West

In 1812, the condemned John Tylor tries to escape the consequences of his involvement in the Burr conspiracy by signing on as a boatman with Manuel Lisa’s expedition up the Missouri. Lisa’s fur-trading enterprise is under pressure from British, Spanish and American competitors, and every bend in the river brings new risks from currents, hunger, rival companies and divided loyalties.

Tylor is also being followed by Fenway McKeever, a violent hired killer who believes that destroying Lisa’s expedition will make him valuable to whichever power controls the trade. The novel turns the Missouri River into a contested commercial and political corridor, following men whose private crimes become entangled with the international struggle surrounding the War of 1812.