Place of Wrath and Tears: River City Book 6 by Frank Zafiro deals primarily with the trauma of a school shooting. The event is depicted through the point of view of several of the characters involved, including the shooters, and the officers who respond. As such this is not a book for everyone as for some it will come way too close to home.

It begins the morning of September 18, 2001 just a few days after the horrific attacks on New York City and elsewhere. Officer Katie MacLeod has just moved to the day shift after years on the graveyard and is having a hard time getting used to her new call sign and platoon mates. Dispatched to a call of a suspicious person she does not expect it to be much more than a noisy neighbor complaint over nothing.

She would be wrong.

Jimmy Ryan has no dad around, a mom too drugged out to care about much of anything, and a special needs sister who attends the same high school he does. That means he can keep an eye on Lizzie. He does his best to protect her. When she is threatened and with no other options, he resorts to getting a gun to protect her.

Gary Palouse has both of his parents though he might be way better off, as would his mom, if his bully of a father was not around. His father is a domestic abuser that uses bullying and violence to discipline his family. Dear old Dad has no idea the level of rage that is building inside his teen son. Nor does he have any idea that Gary has couple of friends, Ronald “Ringo” Moore and Will Peterson, to a lesser extent, also hate the world and everyone in it.

These storylines and others lead to a traumatic day at a local high school. The first half of the book deals with various things leading up to the shooting while the second half deals with how it changes the lives of so many in the days, weeks, and moments to come.

While I am a big fan of the series, I can not say I enjoyed this read. As a parent of two boys, one of which was named as “not to be killed” on a list by a troubled teen when both were in high school, I am keenly aware of how close we came to a tragedy. There is nothing quite like the experience when, as a parent, you meet with school administrators and detectives so that they can question your son regarding being placed on such a list. Thankfully in our case, somebody said something, and the kid involved got the help he needed.

As a multiyear school district employee, I also saw it from the other side as I went through the mandatory school shooter training which included frequent practice drills regarding shelter in place and evacuation. Those drills are their own trauma and have long lasting impacts on some students.

So, I have seen a few things from both sides of the situation, and that no doubt massively impacted my read of this book. A read that I have just scratched the surface of so as to not inadvertently create spoilers. There are many interwoven plot strands in this read and to go into any detail beyond the above brief description above would create issues.

In short, Place of Wrath and Tears: River City Book 6 is another well written and complicated tale from Frank Zafiro. One would not expect anything else from this author. The subject matter is difficult and the author handles it well. It is not a book for everyone. It is also not a read one can easily forget.

Digital ARC supplied by the author long ago with no expectation of review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021 ( )

Place of Wrath and Tears by Frank Zafiro

River City #6



The prologue begins with a trial. The trial of a young man accused of murder…a murder committed in a school and as the story begins the idea of “truth” and what the “whole story” might be is what is hinted will come as one reads the book. Who is the young man? Why did he bring a gun to school? Did he kill someone and if so, why? What would the outcome be of the trial and what else would happen in the book? Eagerly I flipped the page to find out what would happen next and…I began to read.



This book tells of the police who work in River City and those that specifically work the case the trial relates to. As there are five books that came before this one and this is the first I have read in the series I worried I would miss what others might see or relate to in a different way than I would as a newcomer to River City. That said, perhaps I did miss out on a few things BUT this was a book that worked without reading the previous books first. I do want to know more about the characters mentioned and may someday go back and read them but right now…this book has me pondering and caring and wondering and wishing…wishing that life could be a bit kinder and easier and different for at least some in this story.



What I liked:

* The story…it was deeply disturbing and difficult to read and yet seemed very real

* The year the story takes place

* The depth to the characters

* That the story is timeless and timely

* That it made me think, question, and care

* Jimmy: a youth living in a dysfunctional family who does his best to provide for his sister

* Katie: a dedicated policewoman able to make tough decisions. She is one character I would like to know more about

* The camaraderie and team feel of the police (most of them) – Really liked what I saw of the characters in this story (most of them)

* The insight into and feeling of what it might be like to on a police force

* The way the trial portion of the story was interspersed into the ongoing police portion of the story

* All of it really except…



What I didn’t like:

* Lieutenant Hart…I really REALLY did not like him and would love to see him taken down a peg or one hundred

* The Chief of Police…didn’t see much of him but what I saw left a bad feeling in its wake

* Being reminded that a decision made in a second can impact a person for the rest of their life…and there are no do-overs as we cannot go back in time to do things differently



Did I enjoy this book? Yes, though it was not an easy read

Would I read more in this series? Definitely



Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.


5 Stars ( )