426. Long Bright River
Rating: ☆☆☆☆1/2
Recommended by: Ashley Christianson
Author: Liz Moore
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Crime
482 pages, published January 7, 2020
Reading Format: Book
Summary
Long Bright River takes place in Kensington, a rundown Philadelphia neighborhood that has been decimated by the opioid crisis. Mickey is a single mother and a beat police officer trying to escape her painful childhood by making a better life with her young son. Her estranged sister Kacey, from whom whe was once inseparable, is a junkie and a prostitute. When Kacey disappears and young women begin showing up as murder victims, Mickey risks everything to find her sister before it is too late.
Quotes
“This was the secret I learned that day: none of them want to be saved. They all want to sink backward toward the earth again, to be swallowed by the ground, to keep sleeping. There is hatred on their faces when they are roused from the dead.”
“Who on earth can explain, in words alone, the great gutting tenderness of holding your child in your arms? The animal feeling of it—the baby’s soft muzzle, the baby’s new skin (which throws into relief the wear your own has endured), the little hand reaching up to your face, searching for family. The quick small pats, light as moths, that land on your cheek and chest.”
“I wouldn’t listen. I wanted everything to stay as it was. I was more afraid of the truth than the lie. The truth would change the circumstances of my life. The lie was static. The lie was peaceful. I was happy with the lie.”
“Some people do have trouble with Kensington, but to me the neighborhood itself has become like a relative, slightly problematic but dear in the old-fashioned way that that word is sometimes used, treasured, valuable to me.”
“I tried hard 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. I was more afraid of the truth than the lie. The truth would change the circumstances of my life. The lie was static. The lie was peaceful. I was happy with the lie.”
My Take
I really loved Long Bright River, a gripping, beautifully written thriller that is so much more than a thriller. Author Liz Moore takes you deep inside the life of Mickey Fitzpatrick, a flawed but deeply human police officer, who struggles to do the right thing as she is repeatedly forced to deal with difficult situations. The back stories of Mickey and her sister Kacey are heart breaking but ring very true. I couldn’t put this book down. Highly recommended.
