A Book A Week

"I tried to ignore the low noise that thrummed throughout my day, some tolling, cautionary bell. I wouldn't listen. I wanted everything to stay as it was."

A lot has happened since I last posted a review. For starters, I purchased a house! The past month or so has been full of packing, unpacking, and sorting through all of my belongings. I was proud of "only" bringing 128 books to the new place with me, gifting and selling quite a few along the way. Then I found another 3 boxes of books that hadn't been unpacked from my last move. Needless to say, I bought another 2 bookcases to house the new discoveries! Just as I was settling in to the new place, the global health pandemic overtook our world. I'm fortunate to work for a company that cares about both my health and financial situation, but I'll be at home for the foreseeable future. The one silver lining to all of this is that I finally have a spare moment to get back to writing reviews!

As children, sisters Mickey and Kacey were inseparable. The two always turned to each other and had each others back. As the innocence of adolescence wore off, the allures of adulthood pulled the sisters into opposite directions. Mikey found refuge in a community program that partnered youth with police and firefighters. In fact, she would even follow the example of those adults and become a police officer herself. Kacey, on the other hand, followed a darker path. Unable to break the bind of addiction, she lives on the streets. Mickey hasn't heard from her in years, but she keeps tabs on her elder sister and makes sure no harm comes to her.

Mickey has plenty on her plate. As a single mother fighting gender biases in her male-dominated workplace, it can be hard to get by the day by day. Her partner of years is on a leave, and she's struggling to mesh with her new counterpart. Worst of all, Kacey is missing. No one has seen or heard from her in several months. Each time Mickey comes to a crime scene she worries this will be the time the victim is her sister. Pulled by the unending bond of her youth, Mickey is determined to find her sister and to find the closure of a lifetime of sorrow and uncertainty. She'll stop at nothing to bring her family to safety, even if that means putting herself into harm's way.

In Long Bright River author Liz Moore combines a riveting missing person story with an emotional exploration of the bonds of sisterhood. The subject matter is dark, the kind of gritty, real-world narrative that fills you with unease as you turn each page. Still, I found myself glued to the pages, not daring to look away or take a break. Moore employs flashbacks of the girls' youth to give context for their adult selves. By the end, I was breathless with emotion, sucked in by the fight against personal vises for the sake of family connection. As with all of the best books, it is the characters that inhabit Moore's world that makes Long Bright River such a visceral and rewarding read. It is not the kind of novel that allows you to escape into a brighter world, but it is a powerful and poignant reflection on a side of our world that doesn't always get illuminated.

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2020, 5)