I read a lot of mysteries and watch a lot of crime shows but her first big reveal...I admit, I never saw it coming!!

Beautifully written, “Long Bright River” is a both a family saga and page-turner wrapped around life in a decaying city slamming into the opioid crisis. The protagonist, a policewoman and single mother who patrols a seedier district outside Philadelphia, searches for her opioid-addicted sister as the search for the killer of young women on her beat escalates. We slowly learn about Mickey’s lonely life as protector of her younger sister growing up abandoned by their parents, who now fiercely safeguards her preschool son. I can’t shake the powerful passages describing her pain as she slowly uncovers profession and personal truths. Resolution of both struggles kept me guessing until the very end.

Take your pick of brilliant discussion points: family dynamics, social struggle, and the drama of the hunt for a killer before he strikes again.