#141 Long Bright River

 Long Bright River by Liz Moore 

Im not going to lie to you, i 100% bought this because it was on Obama's list of favourite books and thats enough for me to buy it and read it! Its not a book i have seen much on bookstagram and its honestly so underrated! 

Long Bright River is a story about two sisters, Mickey and Kacey who grew up in Pittsburgh. The story is told from Mickeys POV and is told in past and present tense. The sisters grew up in a very disfunctional household and didnt have any healthy adult role models which shaped who the sisters themselves became as adults. Mickey as a character who just did her best and wanted to suceed and do the right thing whereas Kacey who is slightly younger than Mickey was more of a rebel wild child who got into trouble a lot. 

At the beginning of the story we leap into present tense of Mickey as a police officer and Kacey is a drug addict. Mickey spends her time on the beat watching out for Kacey on corners or hanging out with her usual bad crowd even though the sisters are no longer close. Both sisters have their issues to deal with, Mickey is a single mother trying to juggle her career and her son whereas Kacey has her obvious struggles with addiction. 

The main plot kicks off when a series of murders take place and all of the victims are drug addicts. Mickey is trying to discover who is behind the murders and the foul play behind them. When Kacey disappears Mickey becomes overly obsessed with finding this killer and finding out what has happened to her sister. 

I really loved the writing, i was completely enthralled by the story and cannot remember a time i was that emmersed in what was happening in a book. The author does a great job of fully sucking you in. The characters are so flawed and well written. I loved the past and present tense and the themes are so relevant to todays modern society and things that are happening in families all over the world. The drug addiction theme was very eye opening, ive read books featuring drugs before but this book did an excellent job of showing you a rounded view of the amount of people it affects, the addict themself, the family, the wider community and also the strain it puts on local law enforcement. The broken family dynamic was so powerfully written. What i will say is that its not a fast paced book, its such a slow burn. There is so much character development throughout, the characters are so real. Such a gripping novel, thanks Obama ;)