SOURCE: "Old Loyalties," in The Times Literary Supplement, No. 4620, October 18, 1991, p. 22.

In the following favorable review, Kino discusses the characterizations, plot, and themes of From the River's Edge.

From the River's Edge tells the story of John Tatekeya, a Dakota Sioux Indian, who finds forty-two head of cattle missing from his reservation grazing lands. John seeks redress from the United States criminal justice system, only to fall victim to one of the courtroom's most hallowed abuses—discrediting the witness. During the trial, with his family present, the defence exposes his arrest record, his heavy drinking and his affair with a younger woman. Throughout, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn makes it clear that these are the workings of white man's law—which bears scant relation to John's notion of justice.

Although the novel's action follows the course of the trial, its theme is more truly betrayal—beginning with that of the Native...