Long Bright River by Liz Moore

 

This is a really good crime thriller-type novel, set in a big city with all sorts of big city problems, with all sorts of changing demographics plausibly at the root of some of them. There's a long and tangled thread of family stuff, and a narrator who might be somewhere on the spectrum, and some widespread venal corruption. The voice is really, really engaging--especially considering the narrator's mental state and/or wiring--and the dialogue seems really spot-on. The characters all feel plausible, and the various tensions in the main character's life all come home to roost in various ways. Many (possibly all) of the personal situations are changed by the end of the novel; virtually none of the societal situations are changed like at all. It's a grim novel on many levels, with the only little wisps of hope coming from the possibility of personal redemption. Very impressive, I'll have to see if I can find more by the author.