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Long Bright River: A Novel

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Long Bright River: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel) Paperback – December 1, 2020

by Liz Moore (Author)

4.3 20,237 ratings

Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

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SOON TO BE A PEACOCK LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMANDA SEYFRIED

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR—BY THE AUTHOR OF THE GOD OF THE WOODS

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

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.

"[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

From the Publisher

From the Bestselling author of THE GOD OF THE WOODS: LONG BRIGHT RIVER by LIz Moore

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of January 2020: Many thrillers distract the readers with false leads and red herrings—it’s part of the joy of reading a good thriller. Long Bright River distracts the reader from seeing the wood for the trees too, by going back to childhood to painstakingly lay out the events that made once-close sisters take divergent paths in life. Raised by their bitter grandmother, Mickey is now an arrow-straight cop, raising a child alone, while Kacey is a victim of Philadelphia’s opioid epidemic. Estranged from one another, Mickey’s job enables her to keep tabs on her sister along with all the other lost souls and criminals on her regular beat. Every sighting of Kacey means one more day Mickey doesn’t have to worry about her sister turning up among the dead in the opioid-ravaged Kensington section of Philly. But when a string of murders coincides with Kacey’s disappearance, Mickey’s fears overrule her good sense and she obsessively hunts for Kacey in a neighborhood riddled with crime, corruption, addiction, danger, and deception. Both a harrowing tale that shows how the arc of addiction can feel like death by a thousand cuts to the rest of the family, and a tense, layered police procedural with a strong sense of place that puts it right up there with the best of Tana French or Dennis Lehane, readers will be thinking about Long Bright River long after the final page is turned. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review

Review

"An instant sensation and the January pick for Good Morning America’s book club."
—Entertainment Weekly

"Navigates assuredly between the plot twists and big reveals. . . . Long Bright River is equal parts literary and thrilling."
—O, The Oprah Magazine

"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

"Satisfyingly, the characters’ interior lives are as important as the mysteries that propel the action."
—NYT Editor’s Choice

"Long Bright River— a book that has garnered much pre-publication buzz — 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.”
—The Washington Post

"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.”
—Good Morning America

"Truly, this is a great literary novel about a city in the age of opioids and two sisters navigating their past. And in the tradition of many great literary thrillers, I promise you, you will not see the end coming."
—NPR

"Powerful."
—The Wall Street Journal

"Moore’s observations are informed and compassionate… One of loveliest things about Long Bright River is that it’s not a literary glorification of addiction."
—The Guardian

"Thoughtfully explores the power of nature versus nurture, the pull of addiction, and, and the lengths we go to for family."
—Marie Claire

"An exquisite novel that dug its fingers into my heart and has refused to let go…I finished this novel shaken, both by its sheer emotional resonance and also because of how clear and familiar so much of what Moore describes feels to me.
—Medium.com

"Pulsating with breathtaking suspense and boundless compassion, Long Bright River is the kind of genre-defying novel that, once the final chapters close, you instantly implore people to read. Topical yet timeless, its page-turning narrative wrestles with the fissures and wreckage that addiction can inflict on a family—and a city. Liz Moore is a force, and Long Bright River should be on top of everyone's to-read list come January.”
—Forbes

"A propulsive thriller and a poignant family saga.”
—Time Magazine

"Deftly plotted with strong, vivid characters, Liz Moore's outstanding Long Bright River works as solid crime fiction and an intense family thriller."
—Associated Press

"Liz Moore’s Long Bright River is the perfect literary page-turner. It’s a brilliantly plotted crime novel, yes, but it’s also a story about the complicated push and pull of family, and how much of our childhood traumas we carry forward through our lives. Anyone with a mother, a father, a brother, or a sister – anyone with a heart, for that matter – will love this book, as I did."
—Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes

"Liz Moore’s Long Bright River is a riveting portrait of so many things—of grief, of sisterhood, of a neighborhood in despair. Moore makes you care about the people that society too often abandons and, in doing so, pulls off a hat trick of epic storytelling that is stigma-busting, love-rendering, and page-turning to the last word."
— Beth Macy, New York Times-bestselling author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America

"A superlative crime novel. Set against the backdrop of Philadelphia’s opioid crisis, this is not just a gripping mystery but a thoughtful, powerful novel by a writer who displays enormous compassion for her characters. Long Bright River is an outstanding crime novel, bringing to mind the best of Dennis Lehane or David Simon. I found myself eking out the final pages because I didn’t want it to end. I absolutely loved it."
—Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

"Long Bright River is 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, New York Times-bestselling author of Since We Fell

"Both sweeping and unbearably intimate, a riveting crime novel and a character-rich study of a city and its battered heart. And, in the way that Dennis Lehane anatomizes and explores his Boston, or Tana French her Dublin, Moore brings Philadelphia to vivid, wrenching life. Not to be missed."
—Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me

"It was excellent."
—Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could be Yours

"Impossible to put down, impossible to forget."
—Library Journal (*starred review)

"One of the pleasures of this deeply moving, absolutely page-turning novel is the way Moore, in both the present and in flashbacks to Mickey and Kacey’s childhood and teen years, slowly peels back layer after layer, revealing the old-boy’s network in the Philadelphia police force, the depths of Mickey’s loneliness, and the way the city of Philadelphia, particularly Kensington, is woven into this story, for good or ill. Give this to readers who like character-driven crime novels with a strong sense of place."
—Booklist (* starred review)

"Smartly crafted. . .Filled with strong characters and a layered plot, this will please fans of both genre and literary fiction."
—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Liz Moore is the author the New York Times bestselling novels The God of the Woods and Long Bright River, as well as the acclaimed novels Heft and The Unseen World. A winner of the 2014–2015 Rome Prize in Literature, she lives in Philadelphia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

There's a body on the Gurney Street tracks. Female, age unclear, probable overdose, says the dispatcher.

Kacey, I think. This is a twitch, a reflex, something sharp and subconscious that lives inside me and sends the same message racing to the same base part of my brain every time a female is reported. Then the more rational part of me comes plodding along, lethargic, uninspired, a dutiful dull soldier here to remind me about odds and statistics: nine hundred overdose victims in Kensington last year. Not one of them Kacey. Furthermore, this sentry reproves me, you seem to have forgotten the importance of being a professional. Straighten your shoulders. Smile a little. Keep your face relaxed, your eyebrows unfurrowed, your chin untucked. Do your job.

All day, I've been having Lafferty respond to calls for us for further practice. Now, I nod to him, and he clears his throat and wipes his mouth. Nervous.

-2613, he says.

Our vehicle number. Correct.

Dispatch continues. The RP is anonymous. The call came in from a payphone, one of several that still line Kensington Avenue and, as far as I know, the only one of those that still works.

Lafferty looks at me. I look at him. I gesture to him. More. Ask for more.

-Got it, says Lafferty into his radio. Over.

Incorrect. I raise mine to my mouth. I speak clearly.

-Any further information on location? I say.

After I end the call, I give Lafferty a few pointers, reminding him not to be afraid to speak plainly to Dispatch-many rookie officers have the habit of speaking in a kind of stilted, masculine manner they have most likely picked up from films or television-and reminding him, too, to extract from Dispatch as many details as he can.

But before I've finished speaking, Lafferty says, again, Got it.

I look at him. Excellent, I say. I'm glad.

I've only known him an hour, but I'm getting a sense for him. He likes to talk-already I know more about him than he'll ever know about me-and he's a pretender. An aspirant. In other words, a phony. Someone so terrified of being called poor, or weak, or stupid, that he won't even admit to what deficits he does have in those regards. I, on the other hand, am well aware that I'm poor. More so than ever now that Simon's checks have stopped coming. Am I weak? Probably in some ways: stubborn, maybe, obstinate, mulish, reluctant to accept help even when it would serve me to. Physically afraid, too: not the first officer to throw herself in front of a bullet for a friend, not the first officer to throw herself into traffic in the pursuit of some vanishing perpetrator. Poor: yes. Weak: yes. Stupid: no. I'm not stupid.

I was late to roll call this morning. Again. I am ashamed to admit it was the third time in a month, and I despise being late. A good police officer is punctual if she is nothing else. When I walked into the common area-a drab, bright space, devoid of furniture, adorned only by peeling policy posters on the wall-Sergeant Ahearn was waiting for me, arms crossed.

-Fitzpatrick, he said. Welcome to the party. You're with Lafferty today in 2613.

-Who's Lafferty, I said, before I thought better of it. I really didn't intend to be funny. Szebowski, in the corner, laughed aloud once.

Ahearn said, That's Lafferty. Pointing.

There he was, Eddie Lafferty, second day in the district. He was busying himself across the room, looking at his blank activity log. He glanced at me quickly and apprehensively. Then he bent down, as if noticing something on his shoes, which were freshly polished, somehow glistening. He pursed his lips. Whistled lowly. At the time, I almost felt sorry for him.

Then he got into the passenger's seat.

Facts I have learned about Eddie Lafferty in the first hour of our acquaintance: He is forty-three, which makes him eleven years my senior. A late entrant into the PPD. He worked construction until last year, when he took the test. (My back, says Eddie Lafferty. It still bothers me sometimes. DonÕt tell anyone.) HeÕs just rolled off his field training. He has three ex-wives and three almost-grown children. He has a home in the Poconos. He lifts. (IÕm a gym rat, says Eddie Lafferty.) He has GERD. Occasionally, he suffers from constipation. He grew up in South Philadelphia and now lives in Mayfair. He splits Eagles season tickets with six friends. His most recent ex-wife was in her twenties. (Maybe that was the problem, says Lafferty, her being immature.) He golfs. He has two rescued pit mixes named Jimbo and Jennie. He played baseball in high school. One of his teammates then was, in fact, our platoonÕs sergeant, Kevin Ahearn, and it was Sergeant Ahearn who suggested he consider police work. (Something about this makes sense to me.)

Facts Eddie Lafferty has learned about me in the first hour of our acquaintance: I like pistachio ice cream.

All morning, during Eddie LaffertyÕs very infrequent pauses, I have tried my best to interject only the basics of what he needs to know about the neighborhood.

Kensington is one of the newer neighborhoods in what is, by American standards, the very old city of Philadelphia. It was established in the 1730s by the Englishman Anthony Palmer, who acquired a small tract of nondescript land and named it after a regal neighborhood-one that was, at the time, the preferred residence of the British monarchy. (Perhaps Palmer, too, was a phony. Or, more kindly, an optimist.) The eastern edge of present-day Kensington is a mile from the Delaware River, but in its earliest days it bordered the river directly. Accordingly, its earliest industries were shipbuilding and fishing, but by the middle of the nineteenth century its long tenure as a manufacturing hub was beginning. At its peak it boasted producers of iron, steel, textiles, and- perhaps fittingly-pharmaceuticals. But when, a century later, the factories in this country died in great numbers, Kensington, too, began a slow and then a rapid economic decline. Many residents moved farther into or out of the city, seeking other work; others stayed, persuaded by allegiance or delusion that a change would come. Today, Kensington comprises in nearly equal parts the Irish-Americans who moved here in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and a newer population of families of Puerto Rican and other Latino descent-along with groups who represent successively smaller slivers of Kensington's demographic pie: African-American, East Asian, Caribbean.

Present-day Kensington is shot through by two main arteries: Front Street, which runs north up the eastern edge of the city, and Kensington Ave-usually just called the Ave, an alternately friendly or disdainful appellation, depending on who's saying it-which begins at Front and veers northeast. The Market-Frankford elevated train-or, more commonly, the El, since a city called Philly can't let any of its infrastructure go unabbreviated-runs directly over both Front and Kensington, which means both roads spend the majority of the day in the shadows. Large steel beams support the train line, blue legs spaced thirty feet apart, which gives the whole apparatus the look of a giant and menacing caterpillar hovering over the neighborhood. Most of the transactions (narcotic, sexual) that happen in Kensington begin on one of these two roads and end on one of the many smaller streets that cross them, or more often in one of the abandoned houses or empty lots that populate the neighborhood's side streets and alleys. The businesses that can be found along the main streets are nail salons, takeout places, mobile phone stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, appliance stores, pawnshops, soup kitchens, other charitable organizations, and bars. About a third of the storefronts are shuttered.

And yet-like the condos that are sprouting, to our left now, from an empty lot that has lain fallow since a wrecking ball took out the factory it used to house-the neighborhood is rising. New bars and businesses are cropping up on the periphery, toward Fishtown, where I grew up. New young faces are populating those businesses: earnest, rich, naive, ripe for the picking. So the mayor is getting concerned with appearances. More troops, the mayor says. More troops, more troops, more troops.

ItÕs raining hard today, and this forces me to drive more slowly than I normally would when responding to a call. I name the businesses we pass, name their proprietors. I describe recent crimes I think Lafferty should know about (each time, Lafferty whistles, shakes his head). I list allies. Outside our windows: the usual mix of people seeking a fix and people in the aftermath of one. Half of the people on the sidewalks are melting slowly toward the earth, their legs unable to support them. The Kensington lean, say people who make jokes about that kind of thing. I never do.

Because of the weather, some of the women we pass have umbrellas. They wear winter hats and puffy jackets, jeans, dirty sneakers. They range in age from teenagers to the elderly. The large majority are Caucasian, though addiction doesn't discriminate, and all races and creeds can be found here. The women wear no makeup, or maybe a hard black ring of liner around their eyes. The women working the Ave don't wear anything that shows they're working, but everyone knows: it's the look that does it, a long hard gaze at the driver of every passing car, every passing man. I know most of these women, and most of them know me.

-There's Jamie, I say to Lafferty as we pass her. There's Amanda. There's Rose.

I consider it part of his training to know these women.

Down the block, at Kensington and Cambria, I see Paula Mulroney. She's on crutches today, hovering miserably on one foot, getting rained on because she can't balance an umbrella too. Her denim jacket has turned a dark upsetting blue. I wish she'd go inside.

I glance around quickly, checking for Kacey. This is the corner on which she and Paula can usually be found. Occasionally they'll get into a fight or have a falling-out, and one or the other of them will go stand someplace else for a while, but a week later I'll see them there, reunited, their arms slung about one another cheerfully, Kacey with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, Paula with a water or a juice or a beer in a paper bag.

Today, I don't see Kacey anyplace. It occurs to me, in fact, that I have not seen her in quite some time.

Paula spots our car as we drive toward her and she squints in our direction, seeing who's inside. I lift two fingers off the steering wheel: a wave. Paula looks at me, and then at Lafferty, and then turns her face slightly upward, toward the sky.

-That's Paula, I say to Lafferty.

I think about saying more. I went to school with her, I could say. She's a friend of the family. She's my sister's friend.

But already, Lafferty has moved on to another subject: this time it is the heartburn that has plagued him for the better part of a year.

I can think of no response.

-Are you always this quiet? he says suddenly. It's the first question he's asked me since determining my ice cream preferences.

-Just tired, I say.

-Have you had a lot of partners before me? says Lafferty, and then he laughs, as if he's made a joke.

-That sounded wrong, he says. Sorry.

For just long enough, I say nothing.

Then I say, Only one.

-How long did you work together?

-Ten years.

-What happened to him? says Lafferty.

-He hurt his knee last spring, I say. He's out on medical leave for a while.

-How'd he hurt it? asks Lafferty.

I don't know that it's any of his business. Nevertheless, I say, At work.

If Truman wants everyone to know the full story, Truman can tell it.

-Have any kids? Have a husband? he asks.

I wish he'd go back to talking about himself.

-One child, I say. No husband.

-Oh yeah? How old?

-Four years old. Almost five.

-Good age, says Lafferty. I miss when mine were that age.

When I pull up to the entry point to the tracks that Dispatch indicated-a man-made opening in a fence, something someone kicked out years ago thatÕs never been repaired-I see weÕve beaten the medical unit to the scene.

I look at Lafferty, assessing him. Unexpectedly, I feel a twinge of sympathy for him, for what we are about to see. His field training was in the 23rd District, which is next to ours, but much lower in crime. Besides, he would mostly have been doing foot patrol, crowd control, that sort of thing. I'm not sure if he's ever responded to this type of call before. There are only so many ways you can ask someone how many dead people they've seen in their life, so in the end I decide to keep things vague.

-Have you ever done this before? I ask him.

He shakes his head. He says, Nope.

-Well, here we go, I say, brightly.

I'm not certain what else I can say. There is no way to prepare a person sufficiently.

Thirteen years ago, when I first started, it happened a few times a year: we'd get a report that someone had fatally overdosed, had been deceased so long that medical intervention was unnecessary. More common were calls about overdoses in progress, and typically those individuals could be revived. These days, it happens frequently. This year alone the city is on track for 1,200, and the vast majority of those are in our district. Most are relatively recent ODs. Others are bodies that have already started to decay. Sometimes they're inexpertly hidden by friends or lovers who witnessed the death but don't want to jump through the hoops of reporting it, don't want to answer to anyone about how it happened. More often they're just out in the open, having nodded off forever in a secluded place. Sometimes their family finds them first. Sometimes their children. Sometimes, we do: out on patrol we simply see them there, sprawled out or slumped over, and when we check their vital signs they have no pulse. They're cold to the touch. Even in summer.

From the opening in the fence, Lafferty and I walk downhill into a little gulch. IÕve entered this way dozens or maybe hundreds of times in my years on the force. ItÕs part of our patrol, in theory, this overgrown area. We find someone or something every time we go in. When I was partnered with Truman, he was always the one to go in first. He was senior. Today, I go in first, ducking my head uselessly, as if this will somehow keep me drier. But the rain isnÕt letting up. The splattering sound it makes on my hat is so loud that I can barely hear myself speak. My shoes slip in the mud.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books; Standard Edition (December 1, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525540687
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525540687
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.23 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #30 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- #103 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #209 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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Liz Moore

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Liz Moore is the author of five novels: The Words of Every Song, Heft, The Unseen World, the New York Times-bestselling Long Bright River, and The God of the Woods. A winner of the 2014 Rome Prize in Literature, she lives in Philadelphia and teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing at Temple University.

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Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They praise the compelling story and interesting characters. The writing style is described as realistic and easy to read. Readers appreciate the emotional content and intimate narrative.

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240 customers mention "Readability"224 positive16 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They describe the story as well-written and profound. The author's storytelling ability keeps readers invested in the mystery and love.

"...The thrill of when everything came together made me mad, sad, happy and deeply satisfied...." Read more

"...But that did make it an immersive read. Definitely not a feel-good story. It makes you yearn for something (anything!)..." Read more

"...Makes you feel like it's a true story. Love this book! It's a page turner!" Read more

"...I loved the way the author wrote this book, but it also took great concentration to understand what was going on...." Read more

238 customers mention "Story quality"200 positive38 negative

Customers enjoy the engaging story with interesting characters and locations. They find the story compelling, haunting, and suspenseful. The mystery slowly unfolds and is realistically messy and complex.

"...A story so well told of what addiction does to people and the people that love them and how the system is broken...." Read more

"Long Bright River is a detailed story of addiction, family dysfunction, predatory behavior & police work...." Read more

"...Makes you feel like it's a true story. Love this book! It's a page turner!" Read more

"...that is recounted and while it felt agonizingly slow, it was also...interesting?..." Read more

142 customers mention "Writing quality"101 positive41 negative

Customers find the writing quality wonderful and engaging. They appreciate the author's realness and direct style. The book is easy to read and enjoyable, with a strong plot and dialogue. Readers praise the unwavering description of addicts and their addictions.

"...The writing is excellent & the characters stay with you. Enjoy!" Read more

"Just wow. Eye-opening and just so beautifully written...." Read more

"...As a novelist, Moore’s strong points are plot and dialogue - it is unsurprising that she expressed great interest in screen writing, and she is..." Read more

"...I loved the way the author wrote this book, but it also took great concentration to understand what was going on...." Read more

87 customers mention "Character development"71 positive16 negative

Customers enjoy the well-developed characters in this book. They find the characters relatable and a strong female main character. The writing is excellent, and readers appreciate the author's talent.

"...The writing is excellent & the characters stay with you. Enjoy!" Read more

"This is a wonderful novel with two well drawn main characters...." Read more

"...“Long Bright River” is an entertaining novel with a very well developed protagonist, Micky...." Read more

"...Hooked from the start. The characters make it all come alive - rich, deep and distinctly flawed as most humans are...." Read more

70 customers mention "Insight"63 positive7 negative

Customers find the book insightful and realistic about addiction. They appreciate the convincing details and social issues it covers. The story is described as a true account of life under opiates or sex abuse.

"Long Bright River is a detailed story of addiction, family dysfunction, predatory behavior & police work...." Read more

"...something of a “thriller” as Micky investigates killings, and a social novel, about: an area of Philadelphia called Kensington where opioid abuse is..." Read more

"A story of love, abandonment, and drug addiction. And two sisters at first inseparable and then lost to each other. Loved this book." Read more

"Great story very well written. Follows a family with different issues, strengths, weaknesses...." Read more

57 customers mention "Emotional content"57 positive0 negative

Customers find the book emotional and intimate. They describe it as a heartbreaking story about two sisters caring for one another. The narrative is described as gut-wrenching, insightful, and compassionate.

"...Liz Moore writes in a way that brings back memories and conjures relatable feelings even when circumstances are different...." Read more

"...and Mickey as they offered both a suspenseful and poignant journey through their relationship and very different lives." Read more

"This book makes you well up, and I like that; I like that it recognizes you as human, with memories of things you can never now do differently, but..." Read more

"A story of love, abandonment, and drug addiction. And two sisters at first inseparable and then lost to each other. Loved this book." Read more

22 customers mention "Plot"22 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's plot. They find it captivating and well-written, with strong characters and a realistic look into drug trades. The story seamlessly weaves present-day events with a look at the sisters' upbringing.

"Just wow. Eye-opening and just so beautifully written...." Read more

"...It’s an eye-opener to the lives of people living on the street and to police who span the gamut from well-meaning to corrupt...." Read more

"Amazingly both gripping and graphic, Long Bright River was one book I could not put down...." Read more

"..."Bright River" is a beauty of a novel with rich character studies and a twisting, dark, heart breaking plot...." Read more

109 customers mention "Pacing"68 positive41 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it engaging with well-timed plot twists that keep them guessing. Others feel the pacing is slow at first but picks up speed about halfway through. The subject matter is horrific, but the author creates characters that are relatable.

"...Yet, it is also about love, bonds, friendship & belonging...." Read more

"...and others in her life that is recounted and while it felt agonizingly slow, it was also...interesting?..." Read more

"...Liz Moore writes in a way that brings back memories and conjures relatable feelings even when circumstances are different...." Read more

"...The secondary characters are well drawn, realistic, with good as well as bad qualities...." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

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Amazon Customer
harrowing but realistic depiction of addiction and the afflicted
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2025
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I couldn’t put it down. I felt i knew every character and could literally feel what the characters were feeling. A story so well told of what addiction does to people and the people that love them and how the system is broken. The thrill of when everything came together made me mad, sad, happy and deeply satisfied. I am frustrated i finished the book so quickly and didn’t luxuriate in this amazing book longer

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LynnP
Inside Look At Addiction & Police Work
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2022
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Long Bright River is a detailed story of addiction, family dysfunction, predatory behavior & police work. Yet, it is also about love, bonds, friendship & belonging. The chapters are split into "Then" & "Now", which is helpful as the story is constantly moving back & forth in time. The " Then" chapters really illustrate how choices have consequences & impact the present day. So many instances where if just one thing had been done differently, everything else that followed would have had a different outcome. The theme of addiction really reminded me of the TV series "Nurse Jackie" in that you come to understand it as a true illness that has not only physical, but often has psychological & biological roots. It's complex & not just something to be judged as a failure of will.
The amount of detail & recount, while it did serve the narrative, got to be a little weighed down in spots. The book might've been about 50-100 pages shorter if not for that. But that did make it an immersive read. Definitely not a feel-good story. It makes you yearn for something (anything!) good to happen for the characters. And it ultimately does, but not with the triumph that some readers might prefer.
Overall, I'm glad to have read this book and would certainly recommend it. The writing is excellent & the characters stay with you. Enjoy!

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MommaAmazon
Gritty and detailed page turner
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2025
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This is a page turner and it's full of true details about the setting. Makes you feel like it's a true story. Love this book! It's a page turner!

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Kindle Customer
3.5? 2? 5 stars?? I do not know...
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2023
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I am not sure how to respond to this book. I thought it was a kidnapping/police procedural. It's more like a memoir. There is a ton of history between the main character and others in her life that is recounted and while it felt agonizingly slow, it was also...interesting?

I loved the way the author wrote this book, but it also took great concentration to understand what was going on.

I loved the depth of the characters, but there was so much history that at times I felt I was slogging through it.

I loved the history behind the main character, but it ran so deep and included so many others that at times, I got lost.

So I really don't know what to rate it. At times, it was a 5. Other times, it was a 2. Maybe it just wasn't really up my alley? Not sure.

If you're looking for murder/suspense, this really isn't it. Memoir? Maybe? I don't know.

I don't even know how to end this review except to say I never put it down for good... so it at least held my attention.

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11 people found this helpful

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Lenny P.
Great Read You Can't Put Down
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2025
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I absolutely loved this book. I gave it 4 stars because I felt the book began rather slowly, but once you got into it, IT WAS A GREAT BOOK!

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patricia Collins
wow
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2025
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Just wow. Eye-opening and just so beautifully written. Liz Moore writes in a way that brings back memories and conjures relatable feelings even when circumstances are different. I will look at Kensington differently with eyes more open to the good

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Lynne
A very poignant story
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2024
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This is a wonderful novel with two well drawn main characters. As a reader, I understood both Lacey and Mickey as they offered both a suspenseful and poignant journey through their relationship and very different lives.

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algo41
Moore is very good at plot, dialogue and character but some editing would be useful
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2020
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Liz: Long Bright River
“Long Bright River” is an entertaining novel with a very well developed protagonist, Micky. It is also something of a “thriller” as Micky investigates killings, and a social novel, about: an area of Philadelphia called Kensington where opioid abuse is rife; family members trying to deal with the addiction of someone dear to them; a police department unwilling to root out the many bad apples. Is the police department as bad as it is portrayed? Certainly in these times it is easy to believe, and there have been some bad scandals in Philadelphia, but I would have felt better if there were an afterword as to sources. The author was interviewed at the Free Library of Philadelphia about the novel, by a journalist who writes about Kensington, but he did not bring up police corruption.

As a novelist, Moore’s strong points are plot and dialogue - it is unsurprising that she expressed great interest in screen writing, and she is writing a script for a movie version of the novel. The secondary characters are well drawn, realistic, with good as well as bad qualities. I also particularly liked how Micky becomes convinced, successively, of several people’s guilt. Some editing would be useful, eliminating for example some of Micky’s commonplace paeans to motherhood. Micky’s extended family is not as universally low-life as she portrays them, for example an uncle who owns an auto dealership, but she is not intended to be a totally reliable narrator.

SPOILER ALERT: In the Free Library interview the author expressed pride in the fact that Micky evolves as a character. Micky is remorseful about having asked how the sister knows who is the father. But how does the sister know, given that Micky has observed her working as a prostitute? Circumstances change, Micky’s father and sister become clean, Micky can no longer think of her police job as being one to be proud of, but has Micky’s personality really changed that much? From the beginning she tried to look out for all the addicts on the corners, and not think as badly of her neighborhood as many of her fellow policemen did.

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Artisan
Story of two sisters and their diviergent lives
Reviewed in Canada on May 20, 2020
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i really enjoyed this book, had not read anything by the author before, good story,well written, definitely worthwhile read, good suspense, and a very pertinent window into todays drug epidemic.ill look for more titles from this author in future

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arbruma
Me ha sorprendido
Reviewed in Spain on January 29, 2021
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Es un poco lento al ppio pero merece la pena porque la resolución me ha sorprendido

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Isha Jain
A tale of sisters..
Reviewed in India on June 1, 2020
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It's a good family based story of two sisters but does not involve a great mystery unfolding, in case, you're a fan of "edge of the seat" moments like me. Good book for dramatic readers.

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Bristol Book Blogger 📚📖📓
MY TOP READ OF 2020 SO FAR!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2020
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Hawkins' quote on the cover of this outstanding novel says exactly what I thought when I closed the book. This is an absolutely stunning psychological crime thriller. The narrative is sharp, the characterisation authentic, the themes of addiction, poverty, and the way our familial history shapes us excellently written and believable, and the plot itself so realistic I kept forgetting I was reading fiction. It reads more like a literary thriller. I'm quite a visual reader anyway but I can really see Moore's work being adapted into a movie. This has shot straight up to my top reads of the year (2020) and it's going to take a very special book to reach anywhere near the same level.

Stunning, visceral, and absorbing. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a procedural element to their psychological fiction.

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Ocean Hitachi
人の性格、人生観、責任感、行動とその選択について考えさせられます。ドラッグが蔓延した社会の現実を考える良い材料でもあります。
Reviewed in Japan on March 13, 2021
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人、社会との繋がり、生まれ持った性格、責任感、義務感、人との繋がり、自責の念等、人格や人生観を築く過程に重きを置かれた素晴らしい作品です。今のアメリカのドラッグ問題を理解する為の社会小説としも秀逸です。重い内容ですが、一気に読みたくなるストーリーです。

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Top reviews from the United States

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Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of two sisters and their diviergent lives

4.0 out of 5 stars Me ha sorprendido

3.0 out of 5 stars A tale of sisters..

5.0 out of 5 stars MY TOP READ OF 2020 SO FAR!

5.0 out of 5 stars 人の性格、人生観、責任感、行動とその選択について考えさせられます。ドラッグが蔓延した社会の現実を考える良い材料でもあります。

Story of two sisters and their diviergent lives

Me ha sorprendido

A tale of sisters..

MY TOP READ OF 2020 SO FAR!

人の性格、人生観、責任感、行動とその選択について考えさせられます。ドラッグが蔓延した社会の現実を考える良い材料でもあります。