Hot topics in fiction these days: the opioid crisis in this country (horrific), police procedurals (always popular), and family dynamics (an endless source of material). Liz Moore, author of Heft (which I could not read because the premise freaked me out) and The Unseen World, has written a seriously good (and very serious) novel that combines those three topics in her latest, Long Bright River, which I received from Penguin Group Riverhead and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.
The story is told from the perspective of Mickey, a single mother and police officer who, along with her sister Kacey, was raised by their grandmother after their mother died of a drug overdose. Granny was one cold old lady! Which may account for the paths they took: Mickey has gone to work in a world that values order and tries to fix seemingly insolvable problems, and Kacey has become a drug addict, living on the streets in Philadelphia, IMO a scary city if ever there was one.
The sisters were always close growing up, until Kacey started hanging with the wrong crowd, and Mickey’s career provides a constant source of concern that one of the calls she takes on the job will result in her finding Kacey either totally messed up or dead. Mickey is strong – she has to be, as a single mother and a cop. But she has a deep vulnerability that combines with her loyalty to Kacey to make her an extremely interesting character.
The story is sort of a microcosm of the opioid crisis in that it is heart wrenching and just so totally sad. I felt a nearly constant sense of foreboding wondering WTH was going to happen to Kacey. Mickey’s situation seemed like it had some options, although one would have been to abandon her sister, and she was totally willing to endure whatever it took to try to maintain the sisterly bond they shared for so long. Kacey had other types of options, and part of me was silently yelling at her as the story went on. Ms. Moore is a talented writer, and the story is compelling, but TBH it was a tiny bit much for me. Just like the reality of the current political and social mess we are in. Four stars.