Liz Moore

Allyson Ryan

A Novel

Long Bright River

"A suspense novel that also looks at the anatomy of a Philadelphia family rocked by the opioid crisis and the relationship between two sisters--one, suffering from addiction, who has suddenly gone missing amid a series of mysterious murders; the other a police officer who patrols the neighborhood from which she disappeared: a story about the formidable ties between place, family, and fate" --

The middle third of this showed glimmers of being something better, so I pushed through. But interesting subject matter and complex relationships don't overcome a capricious (and inept) protagonist, bland narration, and a mood that never deviates from bleak.

elizabeth

It was fine. I liked the story but it generally felt underdeveloped and not impactful. I'm from North Philadelphia so probably to be expected. 

Julia Rivera

Krystyna 

Digital ARC provided by Riverhead Books & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Characters

I really loved reading about these characters. They were all so vivid and well-developed. There were some great character arcs in here that I really loved seeing. Sometimes, it's hard to read about what some of these characters went through. But, they're real, flawed, and complex. Liz Moore really fleshes her characters out and they're definitely memorable.

Michaela/Mickey is the main character of this story and it's told from her perspective. She's a beat cop in Philadelphia that is a single mother, raising her four-year-old son, Thomas. She has had a difficult childhood and is trying to provide for her son and be the kind of parent that she should have had. I really loved her character; I enjoyed seeing how dedicated and determined she is. I enjoyed seeing her grow as a character.

Kacey is Mickey's younger sister. She suffers from addiction and she works on the streets. She had a difficult childhood but dealt with it differently than Mickey. I loved seeing Kacey's character develop over the course of the book, even though there were some parts that were very difficult to read about. She's such a strong character.

Gee O'Brien is the grandmother of Mickey and Kacey. I really didn't like her character whatsoever. She was abusive and cruel. I hated that she kept stuff from the girls. She blamed their father for their mother's downward spiral. 

Thomas is Mickey's son. He's such a good kid and has been through a lot himself. Mickey does what she thinks is in his best interest and tries to protect him as much as she possibly can.

Eddie Lafferty is Mickey's new work partner. He's eleven years her senior and is pretty talkative. While on patrol, he talks about himself a lot, which kind of annoys Mickey. But, she's also grateful because she tries to keep her work and personal life separate and she doesn't want him asking a lot of questions. But, he has some pretty big shoes to fill because she prefers her former partner, whom is out on medical leave.

Mrs. Mahon is Mickey and Thomas' landlord. She rents them out an apartment above her house. She's a very sweet lady who doesn't want any trouble and is a great friend and support system for Mickey and Thomas. She's like a little sweet grandmother.

Simon is Mickey's ex and Thomas' father. He's unkind and one of the reasons that Mickey and Thomas moved. He has a questionable history and I'm just leaving it at that.

Truman Dawes is Mickey's former work partner and friend. He got injured while on the job, so he's on medical leave. Even though he's on leave, he helps Mickey try to figure out what happened to her sister while she's trying to work on the string of mysterious murder cases that seem to be interconnected. He was Mickey's most important mentor and he taught her everything she knew about policing.

Sgt. Ahearn is Mickey's boss and I didn't like his character. I felt like he just dismissed her concerns. His character was very questionable for me. I didn't trust him; he made me uneasy throughout the story.

Lisa is the mother of Mickey and Kacey. The daughter of Gee O'Brien. She also suffered from addiction and she died when the girls were small children. When she gave birth to Mickey, she was healthy and so was the baby. But, she was using when she was pregnant with Kacey. So, Kacey suffered from addiction as soon as she entered the world. 

Daniel Fitzpatrick was Lisa's husband and the father of Mickey and Kacey. According to Gee, he was to blame for getting Lisa addicted to drugs. He was not present in the girls lives. I did enjoy his character arc in this story. 

Officer Cleare was Mickey's mentor when she was a teenager. He taught her how to play chess, brought her books to read, and gave her recommendations for movies and music. He was 27 years old when Mickey was a teenager (minor). He was always seemed to be there for Mickey when she needed him.

Story

This was one of my most anticipated releases. The cover drew me and when I read the synopsis I was very intrigued. This story is marketed as a thriller and, personally, I don't think it really reads like a thriller. To me, it had more of a mystery/suspense and literary fiction vibe. So, once I started reading it I was initially disappointed that it wasn't like a thriller for me. But, I ended up really enjoying it, more than I expected. 

This is a story about two sisters, who were once very close, but now couldn't be more different. It's such a great story but it's also very heavy and sad. This really delves into the addiction, specifically how awful it can be, and how it affects more than just the person who suffers from addiction. It's about complex relationships and how far people will go to protect others. It's about family, dysfunction or not, blood and found, and the importance of having a strong support system.

This is a dual-timeline story, of then and now. It's told from Mickey's perspective in both. The story is about Mickey and her sister, Kacey. They were once close, but now they aren't on speaking terms and haven't been for a while. Mickey is a cop and Kacey suffers from addiction. In the current timeline, Mickey has noticed that she hasn't seen Kacey around and has realized that her sister is missing. Around the same time, Mickey is also working and trying to solve murder cases that all seem to be mysteriously connected. So, Mickey becomes desperate to find out what has happened to her sister. In the past timeline, there are flashbacks of Mickey and Kacey growing up. Their parents suffered from addiction and they lived with a very strict, and abusive, grandmother. It shows how each girl took separate paths in life and how their decisions influenced them later in life.

Another reason that I loved this story is that it's just really real. It doesn't tie everything together in a nice, pretty bow. It depicts the life of someone who suffers from addiction and the consequences of that. It deals with some heavy topics. It deals with people crossing boundaries and burning bridges. It deals with strength, growth, perseverance, struggle, family, trust, deceit, forgiveness, and so many other topics. It's gritty and raw and it's definitely a story that will stick with me for a long time. I thought the ending was truly bittersweet. I think everything came full circle and lessons and reality were really instilled. 

*This story is heavy so take note of that before starting on this one.
Trigger warnings for: addiction, prostitution, abuse, student/teacher relationship

Writing

The writing was really good but very different than what I was used to. The dialogue isn't in quotations; instead, the author used dashes. It wasn't difficult to follow. It was just something I noticed. Even though the book is almost 500 pages, it reads very quickly. It's very fast-paced. Also, the chapters didn't have numbers or headings, which was somewhat uncommon but I've seen other books do the same thing. But, what really makes this book go by so quickly, at least for me, is that the chapters are very short. I paired the audiobook with this while reading and it was a lovely experience. The audiobook narrator did an excellent job. The writing itself was great and she incorporated some plot twists that I didn't expect. I also really loved how she brought the community and the city to life. She describes the area so well and it's so easy to visualize. I was very pleased with her writing.

Overall

I really enjoyed this book, a lot more than I expected to. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it, to be honest. I typically don't read books that have a police officer/detective main character. I was under the impression that it was going to be a thriller and while it didn't meet my expectations, it definitely delivered in other areas. I powered through this book in two days. I didn't expect to love this story as much as I did; so, I definitely want to check out other books by her. I think the next one I pick up from her will be  The Unseen World. I really loved reading about these two sisters and their complicated relationship. This story is heavy but it is so worth the read.

Lane Hokanson

Truly one of the best books I've read in a while. Beautifully written, hard-hitting, and with several unexpected twists that seamlessly worked to further the narrative. Perfect for any reader - whether you enjoy mystery, family drama, police procedurals, or just the story of a beautiful and difficult life.

Melyssa Tromberg 

This book is captivating, heartbreaking and personal. Long Bright River shines a light on addiction and the effects it has.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time keeping sincere interest. I also felt at certain points, it dragged on. I read + listened to the audio which I really do believe gave me a unique experience overall. 

If I had to describe this book in a short sentence..."𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."

If you enjoy mystery combined with literary fiction and historical context, then this book is for you!

Megan Snodgrass

3.75

I heard someone describe this book as grit lit and I think that’s a perfect description. Yes, it is a cop thriller type thing but it also has a lot of family drama and tackles opioid addiction, so honestly it feels like it has a bit of everything for everyone. I used to live in Philly so I LOVED the in depth descriptions of the different areas of the city. I also liked how they tackled the complex relationship of loving someone with an addiction, especially someone who went a very different route (aka went into law enforcement). This is also the first book I’ve read where the cops in the book talk about their emotions and feelings in regards to being a cop and how the justice system unfairly protects them.

Izza

SELECTED BY BARACK OBAMA AS ONE OF HIS BEST BOOKS OF 2020 A New York Times bestseller and Guardian Book of the Month 'This flawless masterpiece deserves to be a bestseller.' DAILY EXPRESS 'Tough, tense and twisty - but tender, human and deeply affecting, too ... I don't have a sister, but when I finished the book I called my brother, just to hear his voice.' LEE CHILD 'An outstanding crime novel.' PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train _____________________________________ Once inseparable, sisters Mickey and Kacey are on different paths, but they walk the same streets. Mickey on her police beat and Kacey in the shadows of the city's darkest corners where the drug addicts and sex workers preside. When a string of murders coincides with Kacey's disappearance, Mickey is terrified her sister could be next. But in a community where death and murder is rife, will Mickey be able to save her sister before it's too late? _____________________________________ 'A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced. I loved every page of it.' DENNIS LEHANE 'Outstanding . . . an intense family thriller . . . The clever plot and involving characters set a high standard for this new year.' DAILY MAIL 'This is a thrilling and heartbreaking exploration of the strain the opioid crisis puts on families. A masterpiece.' DAILY MIRROR

an intense family thriller

One of the best books I’ve read this year. I couldn’t put it down. A page turner with themes of addiction, police corruption, and family drama. Heartbreaking and heartwarming with a few unexpected twists. Highly recommend 

Kaitlyn Wendler

Christine W

I listened to the audiobook and the way the dialogue is written drove me insane. “I said”, “she said”, “I asked”.
Overall the story was good even if it played up some tropes of addiction and first responders.

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mickey and Kacey are sisters of drug-addicted parents, raised by a remote grandmother. Mickey becomes a police officer, and Kacey, an addict on the streets. One day, women start being murdered, and Kacey disappears. Mickey begins to investigate, getting drawn back into something she has vowed to avoid.

This novel’s plot has some twists and mystery. But at heart, it's a look into the ramifications of addiction, police corruption, and family. The atmosphere was melancholy, but the story ended with a hopeful note.

Kerry Kalinoski

WOAH this book was amazing, talked about a lot of important topics while still being able to keep my attention and keep me interested in the story line & still shock me at the very end. It gave me chills & it made me cry. Also all the Philly landmarks were cool to read I'm curious if I would've been ~as~ interested if it was in a city that wasn't Philly.

Literally my only complaint and it's dumb but it's a pet peeve is that the author didn't use quotations marks

Nash

Fraser Simons

I really don’t like the perspective/authorial voice in this book and it’s compounded by a pretty terrible narration that sounds super wooden. Maybe they couldn’t get into the prose either but whatever happened I had to nope out of this at 8%.

Melissa Schwartz

I wasn’t expecting to finish this so soon but all of a sudden I was reading the last ~300 pages just today. This is a great book about sisterhood, motherhood, addiction, and corruption within police forces. The main character Mickey is both hard and easy to connect with, but as time moved on easier and easier. One thing I noticed was that initially, the tone of the book was a bit bland; it seemed as though random things were being brought up with not much relevancy to the major point. However, today I realized that many of the things that seemed so random and nonchalant were not random or nonchalant at all. One of my cons was that quotation marks were replaced with bullet points (dashes in new paragraphs to be specific) for dialogue. This got rather confusing and did not add to anything. I also think a few turning points were explained a little confusingly. However, the character development was great and I loved peeling the layers. I would absolutely recommend.

Samantha Mochrie 

I love a book with a twist ending, love the way the author presents the main characters’ dialogue, definitely a book I couldn’t put down and finished it in less than a week! 

Abby Byers

There is something addicting about Moore's writing style and this story. I could not put this down!

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, PARADE, REAL SIMPLE, and BUZZFEED AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK "[Moore’s] careful balance of the hard-bitten with the heartfelt is what elevates Long Bright River from entertaining page-turner to a book that makes you want to call someone you love.” – The New York Times Book Review "This is police procedural and a thriller par excellence, one in which the city of Philadelphia itself is a character (think Boston and Mystic River). But it’s also a literary tale narrated by a strong woman with a richly drawn personal life – powerful and genre-defying.” – People "A thoughtful, powerful novel by a writer who displays enormous compassion for her characters. Long Bright River is an outstanding crime novel… I absolutely loved it." —Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl on the Train 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.

Richard Binder

Devastating

I haven't devoured a book this ravenously in years. What an unexpected pleasure it is to find a new favorite writer.

DNF
Couldn't continue.
Didn't care about the characters.
Maybe it's the writing or the POV but I just couldn't return to it once I put it down.
The dread with which I would look at it like I HAD to finish it was the nail in the coffin.
Not worth my time.
Sorry

The New York Times bestseller and Guardian Book of the Month 'This flawless masterpiece deserves to be a bestseller.' DAILY EXPRESS 'Tough, tense and twisty - but tender, human and deeply affecting, too ... I don't have a sister, but when I finished the book I called my brother, just to hear his voice.' LEE CHILD 'An outstanding crime novel.' PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train _____________________________________ KENSINGTON AVE, PHILADELPHIA: THE FIRST PLACE YOU GO FOR DRUGS OR SEX. THE LAST PLACE YOU WANT TO LOOK FOR YOUR SISTER. Mickey Fitzpatrick has been patrolling the 24th District for years. She knows most of the working women by name. She knows what desperation looks like and what people will do when they need a fix. She's become used to finding overdose victims: their numbers are growing every year. But every time she sees someone sprawled out, slumped over, cold to the touch, she has to pray it's not her sister, Kacey. When the bodies of murdered sex workers start turning up on the Ave, the Chief of Police is keen to bury the news. They're not the kind of victims that generate a whole lot of press anyway. But Mickey is obsessed, dangerously so, with finding the perpetrator - before Kacey becomes the next victim. _____________________________________ 'A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced. I loved every page of it.' DENNIS LEHANE 'Outstanding . . . an intense family thriller . . . The clever plot and involving characters set a high standard for this new year.' DAILY MAIL 'This is a thrilling and heartbreaking exploration of the strain the opioid crisis puts on families. A masterpiece.' DAILY MIRROR

Elena Garcia Navarro

Slightly disappointed in this one maybe due to the fact that I went into it with high expectations. 

My main problem was that I couldn´t get on board with the writing. It was very dry and since it´s considered a "literary thriller" I was expecting something different. The dialogues were very weirdly structure, it took me a while to get used to them. 

Also, I´m not sure why but all the reveals had no effect on me. Even though I didn´t see them coming I was like "oh okay, moving on". It would have been okay if it wouldn´t have been focused on the mystery and instead it was more of a character study ´cause I really enjoy those stories where you get to get to know deeply someone´s thoughts and motivations from within but it didn´t feel that way either. We experience the whole story through our main protagonist´s eyes but I didn´t feel like we got to know her that well. And the ending... and who turns out being the "bad guy", I wasn´t a big fan. There is a big focus on the topic of substances abuse and addiction which I´m not really interested in reading either... so I guess it was the combination of lots of little things that made the book feel flat in my opinion. 

It wasn´t a terrible novel but it didn´t work for me.

Olivera Mitić

Sjajan misterija/triler pandan romanu The Cranes Dance i fenomenalna studija karaktera. Ne sećam se kada sam poslednji put knjigu od skoro 500 strana progutala u dva dana.

Herb Bowie

I liked it a lot. Interesting construction, following and revealing the lives of two sisters, alternating between current and past timelines. Great examination of what it means to be a family, and of the challenges a family faces when confronted with drug addiction. Doesn't whitewash anything, but is ultimately hopeful. Not a traditional mystery, with a murder and a killer, but plenty of investigation, and various mysteries presented and resolved along the way. 

Emily S

At first I thought this was nonfiction...and then I thought I read it was a thriller...but it’s a fictionalized account of the devastating cycle of narcotic addiction set in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

While this book did feel a little slow (probably because I thought it was going to be a thriller), it did have me in near-tears at one point and also had great moments of me pining for Philly. Very raw and emotional and important.

Jordan Robinson

Kayla Smith

This book is so impactful. I would have never picked this up if it hadn’t been a Book of the Month pick. It wasn’t even on my radar before then. I truly think this deserves way more hype than it’s currently receiving. I hope if you see this, you’re swayed to pick this book up because it’s important!

This is a great commentary on the opioid crisis that’s ravaging cities in the US. Mickey, our main character, is a police officer in a city that’s really feeling the brunt of this crisis and to make matters worse, her sister is an addict in the same town Mickey patrols. The whole novel starts off with Mickey realizing she hasn’t seen her sister in a while at the same time, someone is murdering women, like her sister, who live on the streets and sell themselves for money. Of course, her mind immediately goes to the worst-case scenario and any time someone new is found dead, she automatically thinks it’s her sister. The way the author wrote Mickey’s panic and dread was just so well done. I honestly felt it too. Especially as someone with a sister, I could imagine being in her shoes. Liz Moore seems to be a master at writing human emotion. I felt everything along with Mickey throughout the course of this novel which was almost unfortunate because a lot of it was so hard to read.

I also truly enjoyed the pacing of this story. It’s a big book at almost 500 pages but I had a hard time ever setting it down. It’s written in a way that completely draws you in. Most chapters are short and the book is also written in a ‘then-now’ format so just when you get to the edge of your seat in a ‘now’ section, the author flips it to a ‘then’ section and you have to read about the character’s past before getting back to what’s happening in the present. Though it frustrated me at the time, I enjoyed reading the backstory of these two characters. I think it caused me to be more invested in their stories once the perspective was switched back to the present. They both grew up together but they wound up on such different paths. Once again, it’s a commentary on how this crisis can truly impact anyone in our society and as someone who feels truly passionate about this, I just loved that this story has been published.

The only small issue I had was the way the author chose to write characters speaking. In 99% of novels, authors use quotations marks around characters speaking, i.e. “I’m going to the grocery store.” Liz Moore wrote characters speaking this way: -I’m going to the grocery store, she said. It was hard to get used to at first and I had to go back and reread those lines a few times to figure out what was spoken and what wasn’t, but it’s easy to get used to. It’s a very small negative in a sea of only positive things I have to say about this book.

Though this is marketed as a mystery thriller, I really think it’s mostly a study on how the opioid crisis is impacting cities, communities and families in the USA. Figuring out who the murderer was took a back-seat for me throughout the majority of this novel and that’s saying a lot as I usually read thrillers just to see “whodunnit”. The development of both Mickey and Kacey throughout the story was so well done and I had such an interesting time learning about them both. If this is a subject that intrigues you even in the slightest, I’d highly recommend picking this book up.

Long Bright River A Novel

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