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A review by bookph1le
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
5.0
Really well-written and very compelling. The characters are all complex and multi-faceted, and every bit of the story fit together and felt organic, meaning I didn't think there were any of the contrivances to which far too many mystery/thrillers tend these days.
Naturally, this is also a very timely book, since it delves deeply into the problems with opioid addiction. I thought the book did a lot of humanize the problem, to show what a deep, alarming grip it has on so many people in the U.S. There is still a lot of reckoning to be done, and the effects of this epidemic probably won't be fully felt for many decades yet. This is history in the making, and I think it's going to reveal a lot about this country, about how dysfunctional a society can get when there are no social safety nets to help those who need them most.
I definitely plan to check out more of this author's work. My one quibble with it, though: the lack of quotation marks. I really, really hate that. To me it's an annoying contrivance that conspires to make parts of a book hard to follow, which is why the lack of such punctuation in books mystifies me.
Naturally, this is also a very timely book, since it delves deeply into the problems with opioid addiction. I thought the book did a lot of humanize the problem, to show what a deep, alarming grip it has on so many people in the U.S. There is still a lot of reckoning to be done, and the effects of this epidemic probably won't be fully felt for many decades yet. This is history in the making, and I think it's going to reveal a lot about this country, about how dysfunctional a society can get when there are no social safety nets to help those who need them most.
I definitely plan to check out more of this author's work. My one quibble with it, though: the lack of quotation marks. I really, really hate that. To me it's an annoying contrivance that conspires to make parts of a book hard to follow, which is why the lack of such punctuation in books mystifies me.