The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
I quite like the notion of the writer, which pretty much
acts as a mainstay in this particular book, that the human brain holds on to
some images pertaining to some random lackluster events that happened in past,
without the person being aware of it consciously at the surface. But when
coerced or in some vague context, the
blurry images of the event that happened a long long time ago, just flashes in
front of your eye, harvesting some additional- previously unknown or ignored
details in the process. A new detail emerges every time you think about it.
Year 1986, Incident 1- three deadbeat guys storm the movie theater with guns,with intention to rob it. End up
killing every employee working inside except a little boy. An event which will
rewind again and again for rest of his life, wondering why the hell was he
spared.
Incident 2- A girl named Genevieve, jonesing for some dope
wonders away in Oklahoma state fare promising her younger sister Juliana that
she will be back in ten. But she never comes back.
Fast forward
Year 2012, The boy who was spared in theatre carnage is working
as PI as Wyatt Rivers in Vegas and he stumbles
across a case, which takes him back to Oklahoma. Someone is harassing the owner
of a music club, a lady named Candance in the most weirdest and sinister way, possibly
to pressurize her to sell the place and she seeks Wyatt’s assistance in finding
out the culprit. But Wyatt, haunted by the place sizes up to search for the answers
to the question he had been asking since the theater massacre.
“Why is he alive while all others are gone?”
Juliana the little sister after 25 years is still looking
for answers to her question. “What happened to her sister?”
The Author Lou Berney, effectively juggles three different mysteries
without cluttering any of them and ensures the reader is engrossed form start to
finish. As if a worm is crawling inside your head, you will rack your brains
for the answer so much so that the long description of places and historical
facts starts to annoy you a bit.
Although the two main mysteries occurred in past takes the center stage in most part of this book, author never fades away in giving a
very interesting mystery in Candance case as well. I thought even
that was pretty good.
