Long Bright River: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)

I loved it. I’m definitely watching the show on Peacock.

A wonderful fast-paced but very well-written book about two sisters: one a cop, the other an addict, told through two timelines. Wonderful character development and sense of place (the Kensington area of Philadelphia). Toward the end i couldn't put it down.

Mickey is a cop. Although she could patrol other areas, she chooses to serve in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

Gradually, we learn her reasons why: her estranged younger sister is a drug addict and prostitute working the section Micki patrols. Then several prostitutes are killed, and Micki’s sister Kacey hasn’t been seen for about a month. Micki goes on the search.

Slowly, using a double timeline, the sisters’ backstory is revealed as Micki begins to unravel the mystery of her sister’s disappearance.

There are lots of twists and turns. This is not just a mystery-thriller, but a story of broken and battered family relationships where neither sister comes out shiny and the cops themselves can’t always be trusted.It’s one of the most sympathetic stories that I have read on why a young woman would end on the streets.

LONG BRIGHT RIVER is slow for a while at first. But you want to keep going anyhow. It's well written and obviously setting up a story that will be worth your while. It turns out to be unputdownable.

Most of the book is centered on Michaela's search for her sister, Kacey. Michaela is a cop; Kacey is a drug addict living on the streets. The story is told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters. So you gradually understand more and more of the sisters' background and how the NOW came to be.

LONG BRIGHT RIVER is full of mysteries and unexpected results and solutions. The answers I expected were most often incorrect.

I am so glad I didn't read other reviews of this story before I read it. If I had, I probably would have been given synopses of the story and been unable, then, to anticipate its mysteries as the author had intended.

This is the first time I've given five stars to a book that is slow to start. Believe me, it will be worth your while to read and remember it.

However, I don't add this to my list of "favorites" because of its awkward dialog style, with em dashes used to indicate quotations rather than quotation marks. Quotation marks were invented to aid readability. It is, therefore, rude not to use them.

I read this for a September book club.

Disclaimer straight up: this is not my usual kind of book at all.

The novel is literary in feel and a mystery. Mickey is a cop, working her beat along Kensington Ave in Philadelphia, forever keeping an eye out for her drug-addicted prostitute sister, Kacey. Who, as the book begins, has been missing for weeks. Mickey has long been her sister's caretaker, and even though she now has a preschool-age son of her own, she can't stop her search for Kacey, even as it imperils her career.

This is one of those novels that is steeped deeply in a reality where everyone is profoundly unlikeable, Mickey in particular. On a technical level, the book is outright annoying because it eschews the use of quotes for dialogue, instead marking passages with spoken words with a dash. This makes it incredibly confusing throughout, and the format just seems nonsensical.

The mystery around the missing Kacey is compelling, however, and the end delivers some nice twists and turns.

The premise of the story is interesting with Micki a female cop whose drug addicted younger sister, Kasey, has disappeared. The story is told in the voice of Micki and alternates between the present and "then", the time when she and Kasey were growing up. Facts about the family and their relationships are slowly revealed through the arc of the story, which helps move the story along, especially when Micki keeps acting on faulty conclusions.

My only complaint about the writing is the awkward writing of the dialogue: "I said..." "...she said" over and over again. I'm not sure if the author was doing that to demonstrate Micki's awkward way of speaking or if it's a limitation of the author.

This was a beautifully crafted, poignant page turner. I LOVED how Liz Moore surprised me over and over with progressive revelations, and kept me engaged in each of the characters' stories. I found myself taking an extra 5 min here, skipping lunch there, staying up way too late the last 2 nights to read as far as I could.

It's my first time reading Moore's work, and I'll make sure to read more from her.

This is so sad and frustrating, but I imagine that's life with an addict and a broken system. I was furious for our main character when she found out her whole extended family lied to her about her sister. What a side to take.

I liked this even more the second time!

Set in a slowly decaying neighborhood of Philadelphia, Kensington, excellent slow burn build to the climactic ending -who has been murdering young women on Kensington's "Ave" ?- Narrated by a compelling main character, Michaela (Mickey) O'Brien, a dedicated cop - one of two sisters raised by a life hardened, resentful grandma who grieves herself for a long time when their real mom dies (drug overdose). And Mickey's two constant worries: her adopted son Thomas, 6 yrs old and longing to see his daddy, who's moved on to another life, another woman; her sister Kacey, using drugs, living wild, reduced to streetwalking, living in abandoned buildings for years. The author keeps the tension humming -like a low grade buzz-through much of the book as Mickey starts looking for Kacey, hoping she's still in Kensington, worried she could be the next victim. By turns, an excellent police procedural, a slowly growing criminal investigation, a heartrending examination of a broken family & the horrific toll drug addiction takes on individuals, whole communities.... and Mickey at the center of it all - struggling to keep all the pieces together, determined to do the right thing, to still be a "good" sister & a good cop. Draws the readers in with honest but heartrending, grim details of locals, some Mickey's former high school classmates, even police officers whose choices to drugs, to crime, to extortion - taints them all. Yet, the author keeps the plot moving forward, masterfully unspooling each thread to the end.

I picked this up at the beginning of 2020 because it was a best-seller and getting truckloads of good reviews. I figured I should be in-the-know on at least one 'hot' book this year. Then I started reading and wondering what all the fuss was about.

The writing was pretty good--easy to follow and all, even with the author's offbeat way of writing dialog. But it didn't click for me. What started out as a police procedural was suddenly some sort of family drama. And the gritty setting on the streets of Philadelphia was more offputting than I could deal with at the moment. I set it aside for something more appealing.

When I picked it back up, I found it was still the same story. But I somehow found it more engrossing. It's not really a police procedural, even though the protagonist, Michaela ("Mickey"), is a cop. She's not a very good one. She doesn't fit in well with the rest of the department and her street presence is awkward at best. Plus, she's not really trying to solve a crime. She's trying to find her drug-addict sister, Kacey, on those gritty, crime-ridden streets, mostly to make sure she isn't a victim of the same killer.

It's also not quite a family drama, because Mickey is completely estranged from her dysfunctional family and spends little time with them. We gradually discover more about that as we flash back and forth between "Then" and "Now". Most of Mickey's relationships are with strangers and neighbors and her ex-partner. These are also awkward because Mickey's childhood issues and current agendas create barriers for actually relating.

All of this makes it sound like the story is a failure. But it's not. Once I got back into it, I was fascinated by the way the author deftly intertwined the different aspects of Mickey's life into something that worked. During the last chapters, I could almost hear the mechanisms click into place as mysteries were solved, tragedies explained and relationships healed. Some come very close to being cloying, family-drama tropes. But there is enough depth to the background to avoid that cliff.

A thriller reader will have to invest a little extra energy to hang with the slower pace. It's worth it.

Thanks so much to Libro.fm, Penguin Random House Audio, and Riverhead Books for letting me listen and review this engrossing book.
This story on audiobook was amazing. I wasn't sure about it at first, didn't really know what to expect, but it exceeded my expectations and I finished reading this a little while ago and I'm still thinking about it. It was a pretty well written engaging, intriguing mystery story about two sisters and their two different paths in life while also putting forth an opioid crisis in a Philadelphia neighborhood.
Everything seemed to be brought to life and the characters were very well written and I could relate to the sibling relationship with the two sisters and them being so different as they grew up. The characters came to life along with the story off the page. I can't stop thinking about all the twists, turns, mystery, real-life stuff and it was very believable the way it was written and shown about the drug problem and the addicts and the problem behavior and issues that can arise.
I'm a mystery lover so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I ended up enjoying this one as I did, but it was so much better than I was expecting.
Anyway, this story is about a drug crisis as mentioned previously in a Philly neighborhood and how it among other things with life happen and affect these two sisters that use to be best friends and then grew apart as they grew up.
It's mostly from the perspective of Mickey who is a cop and how she tries to handle things with being at odds with her sister, Kacey who is a drug addict on the street. They don't really talk or see each other at all, but Mickey still tries to keep track and do what she can for Kacey.

As the story goes, Mickey has new murders start in her district after her sister, Kacey disappears and Mickey starts trying to figure out who the murderer is and where her sister is hoping that her sister doesn't end up as one of the victims or anything else.

It goes back and forth between the present and the past to illustrate and explain the relationship and story between the two sisters and how they grew up and what happened that led them to where they are in the present day at odds with each other. It also talks about their other family members and significant events that lead them to the present day.

It's an awesome story that will keep you thinking, intrigued and engrossed until the end. The audiobook is very well done and a great listen also. I would recommend checking this one out with only one thing to note that there is a bit of language in it.

Once again a book I don't really know how to feel about.

Definitely well written but also so bleak. The main character is (purposefully) one dimensional, but it just made me not care about her. The way she's written, she doesn't really have a personality, or any interests outside of her job.

The topic of difficult family dynamics is handled well, aswell as the topic of addiction and what it does to a person. I don't necessarily think I'd change anything about the book either, I think it delivered exactly what the author intended. My reading experience just wasn't a very pleasant one, and in the end I don't think there's anything I took away from it I wasn't already aware of.

Maybe if the mystery part had been a little more mysterious and the killer less obvious, I would have liked that side of the story more. Or if the main character was less one dimensional and easier to root for. (And to be clear, the main character felt very real, I just didn't get much out of her as a person.)

Still, I do think Liz Moore is a talented writer (based on this and The Unseen World), and I'll definitely pick up whatever she comes out with next.

Very engrossing-just what I needed.

On the surface this book follows the stories of two sisters - Mickey who becomes a cop and Kacey who falls into drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness in Philadelphia.

The story is told entirely in the first person by Mickey, but all the main characters end up being fully developed by the author.

As the story opens, Kacey is missing, and Mickey is using her role as a police officer to search for her missing sister. There's a serial killer loose in the city killing prostitutes. For Mickey, each victim could have just as easily been her sister Kacey - and she's terrified for her sister's life.

Using flashbacks and dialogue we learn that Mickey and Kacey's Mother was also drug addicted, died young, and left the two girls to be raised by their Grandmother G. G is a harsh and bitter woman, and we get a clear picture of a loveless childhood for the two sisters.

We also learn that Mickey is a single Mom, with no support system. Father is a "Deadbeat Dad". We learn that he seduced Mickey as a young teenager. He's also a police officer, but clearly feels no shame at abandoning his child.

The author does an amazing job of showing the damage addiction causes in families, cascading through multiple generations with devasting effects.

I could not put this book down. It is a mystery/thriller, but it could almost be considered literary fiction, the way it explores the complexities of family relationships. The story centers around the lives of two sisters. Mickey is a police officer and her sister, Kacey, is a junkie living on the streets. The author alternates between then and now so that the reader understands how the lives of these two sisters ended up so different. The book really provides insight into the minds of those people you see strung out and living on the streets. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and there were several shockers that I did not see coming. Great read!

I was slow to get into this one, maybe because of the first person narrator- not usually my preference. But, in the end, it was well done.

Compelling depictions of sisterhood, motherhood, working as a woman in a sphere dominated by men, class divisions, addiction, introversion, alienation. Gripping but heartbreaking.

Female beat cop in Philly keeps watch over her adult sister who works the street. When the sister is not seen for a month and murders of orostitutes keep cropping up, the cop uncovers some unpleasant truths. Realistic characters and a view of addiction and the streets. Liz Moore is an author Ibwant to read again..

I really enjoyed this one despite a kind of slow start. Though it is a crime thriller with murders it is really about family dynamics and way we keep secrets and damage our families. The main character and her sister are VERY different due to certain circumstances and the family could have avoided long estrangement if truth were more freely told. All families have this to a certain degree which is what makes stories like this identifiable. Recommended.

Two sisters, once very close are now at odds. Kacey lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. Mickey is a police officer, they don’t speak anymore. This is about the past and present of these two sisters and how they find their way back to each other.

Intense, sometimes difficult to read.

This is an unflinching look at the opioid crisis through a dark lens. None of the characters conform to the usual stereotypes. Cops aren't always heroes (or villains); addicts aren't always dangerous or hopeless. Everyone has secrets and people are seldom what they appear to be at first glance. In that way, it's one of the most realistic novels I've ever read, and one of the most moving.

Michaela (but everyone calls her Mickey) and Kacey are sisters who grew up in the kind of family that does not put the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional'. Their young mother dies of a heroin overdose and their father disappears shortly after in the throes of his own addiction. They are raised by their maternal grandmother Gee, who provides them with the bare minimum of food, shelter and clothing but even less love and emotional support.

The two sisters, even while living in the same Philadelphia neighborhood, take different paths in adulthood. Mickey becomes a cop; Kacey becomes a junkie. Their paths cross occasionally, mostly when Mickey runs across Kacey working as a prostitute to support her drug habit. They seldom speak but the sporadic and distant contact serves as a cold comfort to Mickey, who still feels the responsibility of being the big sister and the one who turned out "okay".

Just as it becomes apparent that a serial killer is targeting women, Mickey realizes she hasn't seen Kacey lately on her usual street corner. She tries to find out what's happened to her, even as she flinches every time another unidentified young woman's body is found. Along the way a fuller picture of the sisters' background is parceled out in flashback chapters, complicating what first appeared to be a tragic but common story.

Just like real life, there is no unambiguously happy ending here. Mysteries are solved, story lines are wrapped up, but all of the resolutions seem tentative, capable of being undone with a single slip. All the characters can do — all any of us can do — is just the best we can, one day at a time.

This was good, although quite long - I was skimming towards the end. It was (of course!) set in two different time lines, although that worked well and was not confusing. The subject matter was inevitably depressing, but it was well-plotted, with realistically flawed characters.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore is a novel that is set in a rundown neighbourhood in Philadelphia. It vividly depicts the damage that drug addiction does to a family. The main character, Mickey, becomes a policewoman, patrolling the neighbourhood that she knows all too well. She and her sister grew up here, under the care of their grandmother. Both their parents were lost to heroin. Their grandmother was unloving and remote, and the girls clung together, until into their teens, they went separate ways. Kacey, the younger sister succumbed to the lure of drugs. As Mickey becomes a cop and Kacey falls into street life, they become estranged.

When it becomes apparent that there is a serial killer preying on the women of the neighbourhood, Mickey becomes concerned about her sister. Her time is spent trying to track her sister down and assure herself that she is okay. Her concern over her sister eventually puts her job in jeopardy and threats are directed at both her and her son’s life.

This multi-layered story is much more than a thriller as it covers the lives of the sisters and shows how the family fell apart. The focus on the neighbourhood of Kensington and the city of Philadelphia immerses the reader in this area. Written beautifully, this is an intense family drama that can be very dark at times, but the author, after giving us lots of sorrow and pain, leaves us with a sense of hope.

I saw the author of this book interviewed almost a year ago. She spoke so passionately about the opiod crisis and its devastating effect on so many people that I was quick to put a hold on the book. Apparently so did a lot of other people because it took a long time for the book to become available (no doubt the waiting time was exacerbated by two shutdowns of our public library system and the increased waiting time between the return of a book and when it could be loaned out again). The COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the whole world in the meantime has consumed the public's attention but we need to remember that there are other crises that probably won't be as easy to fix as getting enough people vaccinated.

Mickey (Mikaela) is a beat cop in an inner city neighbourhood in Philadelphia. Every day she sees the prostitution and drug abuse and every day she worries about her younger sister Kacey who is part of that world. She has even arrested Kacey a couple of times but, other than that, the two have not interacted for a number of years. It wasn't always that way. When they were growing up they were very close even sharing a bed at night. it was their maternal grandmother, Gee, who raised them because their mother died of an overdose when Kacey was just an infant. Soon after their father left and the two girls never heard from him again. Gee worked hard to keep a roof over their head and food on the table but she didn't lavish much love on them. In their teenage years Kacey started using and selling drugs but Mickey, quieter and shyer, worked hard at school. She had good enough grades to get into college but there was no money for that and getting student aid required her grandmother's co-operation. A police officer who worked at the after-school program the girls attended talked Mickey into going into the police force. He also talked himself into her bed but he's been out of the picture for some time. Mickey has his son to raise and she is happy to do so without his assistance. The son, Thomas, longs to see his dad of course. Mickey is concerned that she hasn't seen Kacey around the neighbourhood for some time and she starts asking questions. Her worry ramps up when the bodies of girls from the street who have been murdered start showing up. Mickey doesn't have a partner these days and so she starts looking into her sister's contacts while she is on duty. That is strictly against regulations and eventually she is found out and suspended from duty. That gives her and her invalided former partner time to investigate Kacey's disappearance and the string of murders which, of course, brings them both closer to the people who are running the drug trade. Except maybe it's not the people in the drug trade Mickey needs to worry about, maybe it is someone closer to her.

I thought this was excellently plotted. There were red herrings and plot twists that kept me guessing throughout. It was also a devastating account of the havoc drug use causes even through generations. Well worth the read.

Wow, what a powerful book about the choices we make, the people we trust, the power of addiction and its destruction, all coupled with corruption and murder.
Mickey and Kacey are two sisters living in Philadelphia, but lead two very different lives. Mickey is a cop raising a young son. Kacey is living on the streets, a sex worker, looking for her next fix. When women start turning up murdered, Mickey becomes concerned for Kacey, as no one has seen her for a while.
This is a sad story, but also has some hope. The last line is chilling.
#LongBrightRiver #LizMoore

Listened to the audiobook but had the text copy as well. A sister who is a detective tries to find her drug addict sister when she goes missing because several women have turned up dead and she’s worried.

The surprises unfold slowly in this mystery that goes back and forth from past to present. A great plot revolving around two sister, but only shown from one sister's point of view which keeps the reader guessing. The novel kept me guessing about which characters to trust, including the narrator.

I rarely read mystery/thrillers—but like an awkward relationship, it’s not the books, it’s me. I don’t enjoy being surprised, I like to figure out what’s going on, and with most mysteries that is very difficult to do. That is the case with Liz Moore’s wildly popular book, Long Bright River, a family drama as much as a thriller. Growing up in Philadelphia, Mickey and her sister Kacey were best friends through the difficult times of losing both parents and being raised by a tough-love grandmother. Now on opposite sides of the law--Mickey is a street cop and Kacey a drug addict. When Kacey disappears, Mickey is forced to confront their past, which Moore reveals in bits and pieces throughout the current narrative of trying to catch a murderer. Although a bit long, the book moves quickly with short sections and intermittent flashbacks, and Moore’s writing is perfect for the genre--clear and introspective, giving just the right information at the right moments. Long Bright River is a definite winner for mystery/thriller readers, and good crossover read those less likely to enter the genre.