"Stand by Me" meets "True Detective" in thisstunningly written tale of the darkness at the heart of a small mid-Westerntown and the four kids who uncover it. In the heat wave summer of 1971, fourkids find a body by a lake and set out to solve a murder, but they dig too deepand ask too many questions. Larson is a town reeling in the wake of the Vietnamdraft, where the unrelenting heat ruins the harvest, and the people teeter onthe edge of ruin. As tension and paranoia run rife, rumours become fact,violence becomes reflex. The unrest allows the dark elements of the close-knitfarming community to rise and take control, and John, Jenny, Gloria, and Rudyare about to discover that sometimes secrets are best left uncovered.
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[He walksbroken]***
(The Borough Press, 1 June 2018, ebook,464 pages, copy from publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I had highhopes for this book after loving The Wolf Road and I was notdisappointed. The book is quite grim at times, right from the start and theauthor does not hold back any emotional punches. This is a coming of age storybut one that is steeped in darkness. I was shocked when the kids were treatedwith such hostility after they find the dead body and it's even suggested oneof them might be the killer. John is one of the kids and narrates the story. Iloved his voice. The kids want to find out who killed the woman and theirdetermination to honour her is touching and heart-breaking. I was fascinated bythe relationship between John, his sister and their neglectful, alcoholicmother. Their story is really the central piece of Bitter Sun. The bookis beautifully written and made my heart bleed and my tears spill so bad.
