“I tried hard to ignore the low noise that thrummed throughout my day, some tolling, cautionary bell. I wouldn’t listen. I wanted everything to stay as it was. I was more afraid of the truth than the lie. The truth would change the circumstances of my life. The lie was static. The lie was peaceful. I was happy with the lie.”
― Liz Moore, Long Bright River

There are those books that you want to savor every word, sentence, and paragraph. You catch yourself rereading what you just read, because the writing is so profoundly rich and captivating. Long Bright River by Liz Moore was just that book for me. This book is like the cliché of an onion and it's many layers, many. Shelved as a mystery novel, this book is so much more than that. It does have the allure of mystery and suspense, but at it's core is the story of family mainly two sisters who chose two different paths in life, and the challenges that face them.

Very quickly the reader is introduced to Mickey, a single mom working on the local police force. Mickey is everything her younger sister isn't. Mickey is cautious, stable, determined to give Thomas the stability her and her sister didn't have growing up. Kacey, Mickey's younger sister is bold, unstable and reckless which has led to her life of addiction and working the seedy streets of their surrounding town. To make matters even worse, Mickey has not seen her sister working the streets and word is Kacey has been not been seen for awhile. Now Mickey races against the clock and against time to try to find and save her sister before the person responsible for murdering women on the streets finds her.

Long Bright River captivates the reader and stirs all the feelings that the protagonist is going through, in themselves. Many times my heart was racing and I couldn't read the pages fast enough. But at its core Long Bright River is about family and that undying love for one another despite years of distance and resentment. I can not recommend this book enough.