Long Bright River
Liz Moore, 2020
Penguin Publisher
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525540670
Summary
Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then one of them goes missing.
In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds.
One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.
Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit—and her sister—before it's too late.
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 25, 1983
• Raised—Framingham, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College; M.F.A., Hunter College
• Awards—Rome Prize in Literature
• Currently—lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylania
Liz Moore is an American author with several novels under her name. Raised in Massachusetts, she attended Barnard College for her BA and Hunter College for an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Both colleges are in New York City.
Her decision to remain in New York, working as a musician, inspired her first novel, The Words of Every Song (2007). Following its publication, Moore shifted her focus to writing, subsequently publishing the novels Heft (2012) and The Unseen World (2016).
Moore received the 2014 Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome, and Heft was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Moore now lives in Philadelphia, the city on which she based her third novel, Long Bright River, a police procedural and family drama centered on addiction. She lives there with her husband and daughter. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/24/2020.)
Book Reviews
"Satisfyingly, the characters’ interior lives are as important as the mysteries that propel the action (10 Books to Watch for January].
New York Times
[E]xtraordinary…. [T]he mundane has been made menacing…. Moore is an astute social observer. Her depictions of Mickey’s isolation are sharp-eyed to the point of pain…. Moore is every bit as deft in constructing suspense… nervously twists, turns and subverts readers’ expectations till its very last pages. Simultaneously, it also manages to grow into something else: a sweeping, elegiac novel about a blighted city. As Chandler did for various sections of Los Angeles, Moore—who lives in Philadelphia—excavates Kensington and surrounding areas in Philadelphia, illuminating the rot, the shiny facades of gentrification and the sturdy endurance of small pockets of community life.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post
[A] novel 10 years in the making that bears witness to the author’s extensive research and first-hand experience of the lives of those who fall through the cracks… is being marketed as a thriller, but, as with the best crime novels, its scope defies the constraints of genre; it is family drama, history and social commentary wrapped up in the compelling format of a police procedural…. [A]lthough the tropes are familiar to the point of cliche, the result feels startlingly fresh.… At the heart of the novel are questions about moral responsibility, and what it means to be honourable. It’s also an exploration of the vulnerability and strength of women. Moore—who volunteers with women’s groups in the area—has created a memorable portrait of the devastation created by poverty and addiction, and the compassion and courage that can rise to meet it.
Guardian (UK)
Deftly plotted with strong, vivid characters, Liz Moore’s outstanding Long Bright River works as solid crime fiction and an intense family thriller.… Moore skillfully explores the sisters' bond from their closeness during their toxic upbringing to the decay of their relationship that seems almost irreparable…. The clever plot and involving characters of Long Bright River set a high standard for this new year.
Associated Press
[E]ectrifying…. In taut, propulsive sentences, Moore draws on the police procedural in conjuring a community on the brink while exploring tensions between two sisters on either side of the thin blue line.… Moore navigates assuredly through plot twists and big reveals… equal parts literary and thrilling—a compassionate, multidimensional look at an epidemic that surrounds us.… it’s got all the ingredients that make for an unputdownable mystery, but it’s got something more, a narrator who leads you into unexpected places, and keeps surprising you until the end.
Oprah Magazine
Moore weaves a police procedural and a family drama into a captivating novel.… Mickey’s personal journey [which] runs parallel to her pursuit is smartly crafted. Filled with strong characters and a layered plot, this will please fans of both genre and literary fiction.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) In her fourth novel, Rome Prize–winning author Moore blends the reality of today’s deadly opioid crisis with a complicated family dynamic to create an intense mystery with stunning twists and turns. Impossible to put down, impossible to forget. —Beth Anderson, formerly of Ann Arbor Dist. Library
Library Journal
(Starred review) One of the pleasures of this deeply moving, absolutely page-turning novel is the way Moore…slowly peels back layer after layer, revealing the old-boy’s network in the Philadelphia police force…. Give this to readers who like character-driven crime novels with a strong sense of place.
Booklist
A young Philadelphia policewoman searches for her addicted sister on the streets.… The pace is frustratingly slow…, then picks up…toward the end…. With its flat, staccato tone and mournful mood, it's almost as if the book itself were suffering from depression.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The author sets Long Bright River against one city’s experience of the opioid epidemic, informed by her own research. To what degree do you think the drug crisis in Kensington represents the situation in other regions of the United States? Did reading the plight of Kacey, and its impact on her sister and larger family, make you think about the epidemic any differently? How did the portrayal in the book compare with your understanding of the problem from news, or from your personal life?
2. In this novel, the author combines a crime story with a family drama, as she moves back and forth between present and past, and sets it all against a real and researched city and culture. Which elements moved or compelled you most? Did knowing it was influenced by real life make it more or less powerful for you?
3. While Kacey and Mickey grew up in the same house, they followed vastly diverging paths in adolescence. In what ways were the girls different by nature? Or was it a matter of nurture? Which differences do you think most influenced their fates, and why? What impact did these differences have on their relationship as children, and as adults? What do you think the author is ultimately saying about the connection between family and fate?
4. The author explores the pressures that are put on single parents, juggling child care and an unpredictable work schedule. Did Mickey’s life make you see this in a new way? How did you feel about the ways she manages this juggling? What about the ways she manages her child’s relationship with his father? Do you think such pressures would be different for a man?
5. The vividly drawn neighborhood of Kensington plays a crucial role in the book, becoming almost a character itself, with its own history. How does the author’s portrayal of Kensington contribute to the larger story? Consider the different characters’ feelings about this place, its role in their personal lives, histories, and struggles.
6. Mickey’s Philadelphia is a melting pot of haves and have-nots. What do we learn about class and privilege, and the way they are manifested in the lives of the characters? Consider in particular the times when social tensions emerge as a result of class. Do any of the characters demonstrate class mobility or the ability to socialize across these carefully-drawn lines?
7. How does Mickey’s outlook on justice and the methods and culture of the police department compare with that of her superiors and partners? How do these outlooks compare with your own observations and opinions? In this time of heightened tensions between civilians and police, what do you think about the larger relationship between the police and the community as seen in Long Bright River? Do you think it’s an authentic portrayal?
8. The author explores the concept of addiction in multiple ways in this story. Beyond the obvious heroin addiction, what other kinds of compulsion do you see? For instance, addiction to work, to the chase, to power, to a certain kind of sex or love or support? What role do these other forms of compulsion play in the story? In what ways is the author interested not just in the effects addiction has on the person suffering from it, but also in the effects on that person’s family and friends and, ultimately, community? Which scenes or relationships show this most powerfully?
9. Over the course of her life, Mickey has had many mentors, including Officer Cleare, Mrs. Powell, and even Truman. What impact does each relationship have on the development of Mickey’s character? In what ways do these mentorships dictate her future decisions?
10. Do you think Mickey’s life and profession would have turned out differently if she had been able to go to college as she initially hoped? Would such an education have changed her fate? Why or why not? If not, what would have changed her fate? Or did she end up in the best place for herself, regardless?
11. After their mother, Lisa, dies, Mickey and Kacey are left to live with their grandmother Gee, but Mickey begins to play the role of a pseudo-mother to Kacey. Analyze the mother-daughter relationships presented in the novel: Gee to Lisa; Lisa to Mickey; Gee to Mickey and Kacey; Mickey to Kacey; Mickey to Thomas. How are these parenting styles different, and in what ways are they similar?
12. What is the novel saying about the development of community and the importance of neighbors? Consider the role of Mrs. Mahon in the story, and of the informal network of relationships that Mickey and Truman have with shopkeepers and others on the Avenue. What different types of communities are portrayed in the book?
13. The author launches several mysteries in the course of the story. The biggest and most obvious are established early on: Who is killing young women in the neighborhood, and what has happened to Kacey? Were you surprised by the resolutions of these questions in the end? Were you more surprised by the information that is revealed, or by the way in which emerged Did you have competing suspicions or theories?
14. There are also several smaller mysteries or questions propelling the storytelling, such as what is going on with Truman, or with Gee, or with Mickey’s other relatives, or what happened in Mickey’s past to bring her and her child to this new apartment. Some of these are mysteries only to the reader, as certain information is slowly released by the narrative; and some of these are mysteries to Mickey as well. Which unknowns compelled you most, and why? Which surprised you most? Did you see any of the revelations coming, and if so, when and why?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)