Long Bright River

A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)

By: Liz Moore

Narrated by: Allyson Ryan

Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

One of Barack Obama's favorite books of the year

Named a Best Book of 2020 By NPR, Parade, Real Simple, and BuzzFeed

An instant New York Times best seller

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

"[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, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Girl on the Train)

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.

©2020 Liz Moore (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"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)

"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)

tho fatalities mount, they're never gruesome

engaging who done through eyes of a 32-year old, naive woman cop. Features a satisfying conclusion and morals, esp. there are neighborhoods where bad things happen that are populated by caring protectors, elderly women. & all cops aren't bad, but some are very bad.

Interesting thriller with female lead

Overall, I enjoyed this book. At times it dragged on a bit, but the protagonist was refreshing compared to most of the female-leads I see in this genre.

A thoughtful read with complex characters

I love a story with complex characters that explores the gray space between black and white. This book does that in a way that makes you really put yourself in the shoes of the characters to think about what you would do in their situations.

Good story

I liked the story but found the main character on the naive side and rather insecure. The one thing that bugged me was the constant “I say, he said, she said” all the way throughout the story.

A Very long river.

it was too long. It was hard to go back too at time. But over all a good book.

Barely made it through

Being from Philadelphia, I love reading/listening to books that take place in the city. That was about all I was interested in. The book is really about the minutia of Mickey's life, as an aside, trying to find her sister. So little was about the actual search. When I finished, I thought, oh, there was a Kacey. But, if you love all things Philadelphia, it's accurate.

Cops...

“One of Obama’s favorite books of the year” I believe this is helping sell this book. I like the premise of it. Despite the bad narration reviews I liked Allyson Ryan, it was a little flat, but it was ok. That being said, this book was anti-police. The protagonist even hates herself for being a cop. Liz Moore has a very jaded view of police. Being an officer is a huge job to take on. Everyday cops are subject to all manner of situations and walks of life daily. The portrait this painted is all cops are on the take and abusing their authority and if they’re not then they quit bc you can’t be a good person and be a cop, obviously 🙄 not a fan of Long Bright River. The opioid crisis is real. It is the plague of our time. COVID-19 has nothing on the ravages of addiction from this drug on our country.

Incredulous

Good story, but the word incredulous is used way too much! Also, I don’t know why G is so cheap. Her house is paid off.

Not Credible

An hour or more could have been edited. Protagonist not credible as a police officer.

Bleak, frustrating, repetitive

Did not love the writing style. It was obviously a style choice, but “Kacey said” repeated 30 times a page got old very fast - especially with the way the narrator said her name, like it had an extra syllable.

Was very frustrated with Mickey’s character in the present: unlikeable, deeply insecure, making dumb choices, always thinking the worst had happened to her young son, even though she had a terrible babysitter for him.

I stuck with the whole book, however, and did find myself moved by the scenes portraying the opioid epidemic, and found the flashbacks to Mickey’s childhood fascinating.

Somewhat glad I stuck it out just to say I did but.... would not recommend.