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.
... extraordinary ... the 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.
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.
... electrifying ... 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 ... the author has something more transgressive in mind—that is, to use the tropes of crime fiction in composing a deeper morality tale in which the heroes and villains commingle and even change places. Among the first novelists to dive into the riptides of the opioid crisis, 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.
