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  • Published: 9 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9781473563643
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

Long Bright River

an intense family thriller




Gritty and moving crime thriller, for fans of THE WIRE and LINE OF DUTY from the critically-acclaimed author of HEFT.

SELECTED BY BARACK OBAMA AS ONE OF HIS BEST BOOKS OF 2020

A New York Times bestseller and Guardian Book of the Month

'This flawless masterpiece deserves to be a bestseller.' DAILY EXPRESS

'Tough, tense and twisty - but tender, human and deeply affecting, too ... I don't have a sister, but when I finished the book I called my brother, just to hear his voice.' LEE CHILD

'An outstanding crime novel.' PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train
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Once inseparable, sisters Mickey and Kacey are on different paths, but they walk the same streets. Mickey on her police beat and Kacey in the shadows of the city's darkest corners where the drug addicts and sex workers preside. When a string of murders coincides with Kacey's disappearance, Mickey is terrified her sister could be next.

But in a community where death and murder is rife, will Mickey be able to save her sister before it's too late?
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'A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced. I loved every page of it.' DENNIS LEHANE

'It is by some considerable distance my crime novel of the year' IRISH TIMES

'Outstanding . . . an intense family thriller . . . The clever plot and involving characters set a high standard for this new year.' DAILY MAIL

'This is a thrilling and heartbreaking exploration of the strain the opioid crisis puts on families. A masterpiece.' DAILY MIRROR
'A dazzling, propulsive, humane work that not only bears comparison to Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos but occasionally beats them at their own game' METRO
'heart-pounding thriller' VOGUE
'compassionate and enthralling' INDEPENDENT

  • Published: 9 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9781473563643
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

About the author

Liz Moore

Liz Moore is the author of the acclaimed novels Heft, recently optioned as a feature film, and The Unseen World, which was optioned for television. A winner of the 2014 Rome Prize in Literature, she lives in Philadelphia.

Also by Liz Moore

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Praise for Long Bright River

An outstanding crime novel, bringing to mind the best of Dennis Lehane or David Simon. I found myself eking out the final pages because I didn't want it to end. I absolutely loved it.

Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

Both sweeping and unbearably intimate, a riveting crime novel and character-rich study of a city and its battered heart . . . Not to be missed.

Megan Abbott, author of YOU WILL KNOW ME

LONG BRIGHT RIVER is a remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It’s also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced. I loved every page of it.

Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author

Liz Moore lays open the sometimes fractured lives of others with a true novelist’s hand and eye.

John Harvey

Extraordinary . . . twists, turns and subverts readers’ expectations till its very last pages . . . a sweeping, elegiac novel about a blighted city.

Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post

[B]rilliant and harrowing thriller […] Beautifully told, this is a book to totally lose yourself in.

Best January reads, Stylist

Very moving.

The Times

Outstanding . . . an intense family thriller . . . The clever plot and involving characters set a high standard for this new year.

Daily Mail

A haunting tale of addiction and redemption.

Woman

Tough, tense and twisty - but tender, human and deeply affecting, too ... I don't have a sister, but when I finished the book I called my brother, just to hear his voice.

Lee Child

A page-turning mystery . . . Equal parts literary and thrilling.

Oprah magazine

Every so often a thriller comes along that is so remarkable that it transcends genre and Long Bright River is one such book. The mystery at its heart is absorbing, thoughtful and perfectly paced and Mickey is a flawed heroine who it’s easy to root for. But the fourth novel from acclaimed American writer Moore is also heartbreakingly profound in exploring the strain put on families and entire communities by the opioid crisis in US cities. It exposes the way addicted parents’ broken promises inflict childhood wounds that never heal. But it also gives hope that familial bonds and community spirit can ultimately triumph. This flawless masterpiece deserves to be a bestseller.

Daily Express

This is a thrilling and heartbreaking exploration of the strain the opioid crisis puts on families. A masterpiece.

Daily Mirror

Strong characters and some truly evocative writing.

Guardian Books of the Month

A gritty exploration of the power of family ties.

Best

Sprawling, intuitive and immaculately told, this is a powerful evocation of grief and regret that haunts to the final page.

Daily Mail

Superb

Strong Words

Told in a crisp, propulsive first-person voice, Long Bright River is a detailed, realistic portrait of a city and an intimate, incredibly moving study of characters seemingly beyond repair.

Irish Times

As with the best crime novels, its scope defies the constraints of genre . . . the result feels startlingly fresh . . . Moore has created a memorable portrait of the devastation created by poverty and addiction, and the compassion and courage that can rise to meet it.

Stephanie Merritt, Observer

Much more than a police procedural, this is multi-layered and the reading pleasure is in the development of the characters.

Choice Magazine

[A] compassionate tale, full of empathy for the low-lying members of society.

Spectator

[T]he twists are clever . . . but it is the novel's more eccentric, reflective aspects that make it stand out from the ruck.

Daily Telegraph

Liz Moore's stunning Long Bright River works as a vivid portrait of a city (Philadelphia), as an acute study of mothers and daughters and as a psychologically coherent, morally unsettling, incredibly moving broken-family saga. It is by some considerable distance my crime novel of the year.

Declan Hughes, Irish Times, Books of the Year

A powerful and thought-provoking novel.

Fully Booked

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2020 summer picks from the Penguin NZ team!

Here at the NZ office of Penguin Random House we are huge readers – it is definitely one of the perks of the job that we get access to so many books! Luckily across the team we have a wide range of interests so, for example, if we want to know what all the fuss is about with a big debut international crime novel, our crime fiction enthusiast Becky can read it and share her thoughts on whether it will work for NZ readers, our Naomi can spot the next big thing in young adult fiction, and so on… here we present you with a few of what we’ve truly loved over the summer.