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    The Reservoir
    The Reservoir
    The Reservoir
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Reservoir

    Written by John Milliken Thompson

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    On an early spring morning in Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1885, a young pregnant woman is found floating in the city reservoir. It appears that she has committed suicide, but there are curious clues at the scene that suggest foul play. The case attracts local attention, and an eccentric group of men collaborate to solve the crime. Detective Jack Wren lurks in the shadows, weaseling his way into the investigation and intimidating witnesses. Policeman Daniel Cincinnatus Richardson, on the brink of retirement, catches the case and relentlessly pursues it to its sorrowful conclusion. As the identity of the girl, Lillie, is revealed, her dark family history comes to light, and the investigation focuses on her tumultuous affair with Tommie Cluverius. Tommie, an ambitious young lawyer, is the pride and joy of his family and the polar opposite of his brother Willie, a quiet, humble farmer. Though both men loved Lillie, it' s Tommie' s reckless affair that thrusts his family into the spotlight. With Lillie dead, Willie must decide how far to trust Tommie, and whether he ever understood him at all. Told through accumulating revelations, Tommie' s story finally ends in a riveting courtroom climax. Based on a true story, The Reservoir centers on a guilty and passionate love triangle composed of two very different brothers and one young, naive girl hiding an unspeakable secret. A novel of lust, betrayal, justice, and revenge, The Reservoir ultimately probes the question of whether we can really know the hearts and minds of others, even of those closest to us.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJun 15, 2012
    ISBN9781464038693
    The Reservoir

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    Reviews for The Reservoir

    3.5/5

    57 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great historical murder mystery
    • 4/5
      Not so much a who done it as a did he do it. Well-wriiten well researched book on an actual case from the late 1800's. Alot of family dynamics at play. Didn't feel much sympathy for the victim until the very end because I felt a remove from this character, but eventually the reader becomes aware of all the diiferent currnets at play and I felt a deep sympathy fro almost everyone else involved except the victim's father.
    • 4/5
      One early spring, post-civil war morning in Richmond, Virginia, a young woman is found floating in the city reservoir. She is nearly eight months pregnant, and initial speculation is that she threw herself into the waters to commit suicide. But certain elements of the case appear suspicious: two sets of footprints around the scene, a bruise on the victim’s head, and a gold watch key which may not have belonged to the dead woman. When the victim’s identity is discovered to be Fannie Lillian Madison (“Lillie”), investigators focus in on Tommie Cluverius, a young lawyer who apparently was having an illicit relationship with Lillie, and who also happens to be her cousin. What unfolds is a stunning arrest and trial which inflames the imaginations of the people of Richmond. Did Tommie murder his pregnant lover in cold blood, or is there more to the story than first meets the eye?The Reservoir is based on a true murder case: “T.J. Cluverius v. the Commonwealth.” John Milliken Thompson provides a fictionalized account of the case, delving into the lives of Lillie, Tommie and Tommie’s older brother, Willie (who also had a relationship with Lillie). From the beginning, there is no other suspect in the case but Tommie, but Thompson’s novel imagines several scenarios of what actually happened on that cold night at the edge of a dark reservoir. The narration moves back and forth in time from the days immediately following the drowning and the trial which unfolds, to Tommie and Willie’s childhood, to Tommie’s developing relationship with Lillie. Thompson builds his novel to that one night and asks the compelling question, “What really happened?”Although this is clearly an historical novel, it is also a bit of a psychological thriller. Thompson attempts to get beneath the facts in the case and explain motivation. The relationship between the two brothers, Tommie who is an ambitious young lawyer and Willie who is a simple farmer, comes into play in the story. Both men found themselves drawn to Lillie in a romantic way, although it is Tommie who allows his affair to unravel his life and those around him. Willie’s steadfast support of his brother never wavers despite his mixed feelings about Tommie’s guilt or innocence.The Reservoir takes a bit of time to hook the reader. There are many minor characters and in the first third of the book, Thompson establishes the players and their backgrounds. Thompson’s style is to build the story gradually…and I eventually found myself fully engrossed as the trial unfurled. Thompson does an admirable job at teasing out the subtleties in the case and presenting alternatives to the original charge of first degree murder. I found Tommie a largely unreliable narrator and a narcissist, someone who struck me as capable of murder…but don’t take my word for it. This would make an excellent discussion book because nothing is completely clear, and I am sure that, as in most controversial trials, there will be a wide variety of opinions.While not perfect, The Reservoir is an absorbing book for those readers who enjoy crime novels. This is not a whodunnit, but more of a psychological study of the story behind a murder. There are no huge revelations or surprises, in fact, the book raises more questions than it answers…which is what makes it unique in its genre.Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Based on a true murder mystery, The Reservoir presents an intriguing case that unfolds or rather, is encountered much like a detective might expect to experience during a real investigation. Through the uncovering, characters, events and suspicions arise and often take on new meaning and point in various directions. At varying points in the story, the innocent appear guilty, and the guilty, innocent. Many plausible scenarios develop making it difficult to guess what the truth, if any, will ever be revealed. By the end, you'll wonder if the conclusion is sincere or have you been mislead to believe an acceptable truth? Much like real-life, nothing is certain and it can be a murky business unveiling the responsible. The Reservoir will leave you questioning who is to blame in this tragic event. It seems circumstance, gender, class and human nature all have a hand in driving the plot to its conclusion.
    • 3/5
      The Reservoir is a well researched, intriguing story based on a real crime back in the late 1800s. I found the story interesting but I just couldn't get lost in it. The writing kept me slightly removed. I felt like I was being told a great story, rather than experiencing one. Also, the author jumps back and forth in time without any clear indication. I often found myself reading a scene I thought to be in the present, only to realize several paragraphs later that we'd jumped back into the past.
    • 4/5
      The plot of John Milliken Thompson’s debut novel, The Reservoir, reminded me in many ways of Theodore Dreiser’s classic An American Tragedy. It is the same basic story: young woman from a common background finds herself pregnant by a young man of higher status and better prospects in a day during which abortion is highly dangerous, illegal, and usually not the first choice as a solution to the “problem.” And, like Dreiser’s heroine, Lillie ends up dead at the hands of the man who supposedly loved her so much.As it turns out, Thompson’s story is based on an actual event that occurred in Richmond, Virginia, in 1885. Thompson, an historian and author of three nonfiction books, put his research skills to use in developing the basic plot of his first novel. But it is his skill in creating the unknown personal details and motivations of those involved in the case that makes this a very fine debut novel. When Lillie was found drowned in a Richmond city reservoir, all the evidence pointed toward suicide. When it was discovered that the unmarried young woman was far along in a pregnancy, that ruling seemed even more certain. Soon enough, however, evidence indicating that Lillie had not come to the reservoir alone was discovered – and, by the time her body had been identified, there was enough physical evidence to see investigators in search of her killer.The Cluverious brothers, Tommie and Willie, could hardly be more different. Willie is a quiet man who wants little more from life than to make a success of his farm; Tommie, on the other hand, has always been the ambitious one. Neither of the brothers has yet achieved his goals, but 23-year-old Tommie is certainly heading in the right direction, having become associated with a respected Richmond law firm. The one thing the brothers seem to have in common, other than their shared childhood, is their longtime infatuation with Lillie, a cousin of theirs.The Reservoir combines common characteristics of historical fiction with those of a police procedural and a psychological crime novel. Thompson tells Tommie’s story slowly and steadily, building toward a climax that, by its end, is not unexpected. Along the way, the reader gets a good feel for the period and the methods then used by policemen and private detectives to solve a crime. The times may have been simpler, but the case (and the main characters) will feel familiar to anyone that watches much of today’s tabloid television. John Milliken Thompson’s debut novel is a good one that should appeal to fans of historical fiction and crime fiction alike.Rated at: 4.0
    • 4/5
      This book is a difficult one to review. I liked many things about it, first and foremost the story, which is based on a true tragedy.In March 1885 in Richmond, Virginia, the body of a young pregnant woman is found floating in a reservoir. The back of her head is injured and the weather is quite cold. Many remark how angelic she looks and there is an uproar to learn who is responsible for such a horrid crime. Surely she couldn't have committed suicide. This much of the story is true, according to news reports and other documents of the time.Thompson found the story fascinating and proceeded to research it. Having learned everything he could, he then wrote this novel with some real characters and others fictional. He invented a love triangle, an extended family, and perhaps the killer. The problem is the main character, Tommie Cluverius, and his mind. The victim is his young cousin who had been raped by her father and then went to live with her aunt, the same aunt who has raised Tommie and his brother Willie. This is the dysfunctional family from hell, but Aunt Jane is a good woman who loves all three and does her best by them.These are classic characters and I think perhaps that fact is what bothered me as I read. One is a simple good man, one is ambitious and willing to do anything to make his dreams come true. Lillie, the victim, is pretty and a handful who is doomed to trouble. Her father is mean through and through. The women are stereotypical for 1885, and so are many of the men.You can't help reading with bated breath, however, because you can't make up your mind about Tommie. He is like a Jekyll and Hyde person. Which one is the real Tommie? Even though you know from the beginning that Lillie is the woman found in the reservoir, you keep going back and forth about how and why she died. I enjoyed seeing postwar Richmond depicted so well and how the burning of the city affected 1885 life there. The setting is one of the best things about this book, along with the terrible situation of an unmarried pregnant woman in those days. I recommend reading The Reservoir because the problems with the book aren't worth denying yourself the pleasure of the story. I also recommend a box of tissues nearby.