[1] As Aljaz Cosini lies dying at the bottom of a river in Tasmania he starts to experience a series of flashbacks, forcing him to re-examine his own life.

The reviewer on The Novel Approach website stated: "It's startling (and, quite frankly, a little depressing) to realise that Death of a River Guide is Flanagan's first novel.

"[2] In The Canberra Times Marian Eldridge noted the connection between character and landscape: "Land use, convicts, brutality, migration, and racial prejudice all are strands in Aljaz's heritage.

"[3] This novel has been translated into French (2000), Slovenian (2003), Dutch (2003), Spanish (2003), German (2004), Italian (2005), Polish (2017) and Bulgarian (2018).

[1] It has been reported that this novel was inspired by the death in 1985 of Julien Weber, a tour guide who died on the Franklin river at “the cauldron”.