Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: and also…This is a repeat of the dun-dun square since the book is a mystery
Has America found her Tana French?
Bold words to be sure. French is my favorite writer and the person I’d argue is our greatest living crime writer. Her character-driven mysteries are sumptuous masterpieces. The Hunter, her 2024 release, is an early favorite for my personal best book of this year. At the very least, I can’t imagine it falling out of the top 3.
French is an imitator of the genre but no one I’ve found has been able to duplicate her.
Until now?
I mean, Liz Moore is damn close, with both this and Long Bright River.
There’s just not much more you can ask for in a book like this if its style is your thing as it is mine: the pacing is incredible for 476 pages, the characters wholly three-dimensional, the clues parsed out just enough to tease without being pedantic, the story rich and easy to fall into.
But perhaps what I’m most impressed about here is how well Moore transitioned from the solo POV of Long Bright River to the multiple POVs here. Each person whose POV we get felt genuine. I didn’t look forward to reading one over another.
I also like how Moore is subtle in exploring female queerness, something unthinkable in upper-crust and working-class mid-state New York in the 50s and 70s. It felt physical and personal while being honest (and fortunately not tragic).
I do think the story falters a bit at the end and I think there’s one subplot that’s wholly unnecessary and could have been discarded without loss (can’t say why cuz it’s a major spoiler). That’s what maybe makes this fall just shy of the greatest of French’s work. But it’s not shy by much. Moore isn’t a prolific writer but I really hope it doesn’t take another four years before we get another work of hers. She’s making a name for herself.