The Lost Night
Andrea Bartz, 2019
Crown/Archetype
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525574712
Summary
What really happened the night Edie died? Years later, her best friend Lindsay will learn how unprepared she is for the truth.
In 2009, Edie had New York’s social world in her thrall.
Mercurial and beguiling, she was the shining star of a group of recent graduates living in a Brooklyn loft and treating New York like their playground.
When Edie’s body was found near a suicide note at the end of a long, drunken night, no one could believe it. Grief, shock, and resentment scattered the group and brought the era to an abrupt end.
A decade later, Lindsay has come a long way from the drug-addled world of Calhoun Lofts. She has devoted best friends, a cozy apartment, and a thriving career as a magazine’s head fact-checker.
But when a chance reunion leads Lindsay to discover an unsettling video from that hazy night, she starts to wonder if Edie was actually murdered—and, worse, if she herself was involved.
As she rifles through those months in 2009—combing through case files, old technology, and her fractured memories—Lindsay is forced to confront the demons of her own violent history to bring the truth to light. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and coauthor of the blog-turned-book Stuff Hipsters Hate, which The New Yorker called "depressingly astute."
Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Martha Stewart Living, Redbook, Elle, and many other outlets, and she's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among others. (From the publisher .)
Book Reviews
[A]ccomplished debut…. As the story hurtles toward its dramatic conclusion, Lindsay realizes she can’t trust anyone, especially not herself. Fans of psychological thrillers will want to see more from this talented newcomer.
Publishers Weekly
★ [A] captivating psychological suspense novel full of moving pieces and is expertly paced. The tension is unmatched as the pieces fall into place, but not without the protagonist second-guessing herself.… [A] whip-smart and mysterious read.
Library Journal
★ A riveting debut with, yes, an echo of The Girl on the Train.
Booklist
[A]s much a portrait of post-recession Brooklyn hipster ennui as it is a thriller… also a reminder of how insufferable hipsters could be.… Readers nostalgic for… Molly-fueled ragers should enjoy the world Bartz creates here; those looking for a terse thriller might turn elsewhere
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Lindsay begins investigating Edie’s death after her catch-up dinner with Sarah. Would you have done the same or let sleeping dogs lie? What do you make of Lindsay’s compulsion to dig into Edie’s old case after so much time had gone by?
2. What made Edie so enchanting to Lindsay and the other residents at Calhoun Lofts?
3. How do Lindsay’s scattered memories contribute to the story? Did you feel she was a reliable narrator?
4. Which of the characters did you feel most connected to?
5. Do you think Edie was a good friend?
6. Why do you think Lindsay isolated herself from the rest of the group after Edie’s death?
7. Calhoun Lofts becomes a character in the story as much as any of the other people. Describe the effect the book’s setting had on you.
8. What do you make of Lindsay’s friendship with Tessa?
9. When Lindsay reveals what really happened during the Warsaw Incident, we learn about one of her most shameful secrets. Did it change how you thought of her? Why?
10. As the narrator, Lindsay is constantly picking apart and commenting on the social dynamics at play around her—trying to understand people’s motivations and intentions. Did you find that commentary relatable? What did it tell you about her character?
11. As Lindsay compares everyone’s recollections of what happened in 2009, she realizes there are many different interpretations of the same reality. Have you ever remembered a shared experience very differently from someone else? What happened?
12. Were you surprised by the ending? What did you think had actually happened to Edie?
13. Throughout the narrative, technology serves as both a memory aid and a marker for how different things are today vs. ten years ago. How do you use technology to document your life? How would you feel if, ten years from now, you could no longer access the photos and posts you took today?
14. The Lost Night is set in the present but centers on Lindsay’s life as a twentysomething, when she was out on her own with a new set of friends for the first time. How does her experience compare to that period in your life?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)