he multi-layered plot of Slow River revolves around a young woman named Lore who, at the start of the story, awakes to find herself naked and bleeding in the middle of a strange city. We quickly learn that she has just escaped from kidnappers and, for various reasons, is afraid to return home. Penniless and friendless, she is found and rescued by a mysterious woman named Spanner, who takes her in and makes her literally a partner in crime.

From there the narrative moves back and forth between various periods and events in Lore's life: her pampered and dysfunctional childhood as the heiress of a wealthy family; the three years of crime and degradation while she lives with Spanner; and the edgy and complex present, where Lore tries to make a new life for herself free of the numerous horrors of her past. Ultimately, Lore finds that she must reconcile all the threads of her life in order to be truly free and happy.

The scope and complexity of the novel and the attempt to tell all three stories concurrently are what make Slow River so ambitious. Each story thread takes place over a different span of time and has its own rhythm and voice. Technically, Griffith makes it work, yet the result lacks resonance.

Of the three different worlds, the most convincing is the world of Lore's childhood, where Griffith creates a believable and intriguing picture of people so rich they can afford to make themselves genetically cancer prone purely for vanity's sake. A wealth of detail gives depth to the present of the story, but the characters with whom Lore interacts seem like characters, not people. The larger plots, conspiracies and twists are telegraphed and unsurprising.

The least successful story is of Lore's life with Spanner. Most problematic is the relationship between the two when we unaccountably jump from knowing Spanner as a threatening stranger to Spanner as Lore's lover. The lack of a convincing transitional scene leaves Lore's attraction to the abused and abusive Spanner something of a mystery.

Nicola Griffith's writing is fluid and warm and she creates some terrific imagery, but in Slow River ultimately both the plot and the relationships felt overcomplicated and contrived. While every loose end was tied up by the time the book was finished, the whole felt somehow pat and unsatisfying. -- L.R.C.

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