LONG BRIGHT RIVER is slow for a while at first. But you want to keep going anyhow. It's well written and obviously setting up a story that will be worth your while. It turns out to be unputdownable.

Most of the book is centered on Michaela's search for her sister, Kacey. Michaela is a cop; Kacey is a drug addict living on the streets. The story is told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters. So you gradually understand more and more of the sisters' background and how the NOW came to be.

LONG BRIGHT RIVER is full of mysteries and unexpected results and solutions. The answers I expected were most often incorrect.

I am so glad I didn't read other reviews of this story before I read it. If I had, I probably would have been given synopses of the story and been unable, then, to anticipate its mysteries as the author had intended.

This is the first time I've given five stars to a book that is slow to start. Believe me, it will be worth your while to read and remember it.

However, I don't add this to my list of "favorites" because of its awkward dialog style, with em dashes used to indicate quotations rather than quotation marks. Quotation marks were invented to aid readability. It is, therefore, rude not to use them. ( )

The premise of the story is interesting with Micki a female cop whose drug addicted younger sister, Kasey, has disappeared. The story is told in the voice of Micki and alternates between the present and "then", the time when she and Kasey were growing up. Facts about the family and their relationships are slowly revealed through the arc of the story, which helps move the story along, especially when Micki keeps acting on faulty conclusions.

My only complaint about the writing is the awkward writing of the dialogue: "I said..." "...she said" over and over again. I'm not sure if the author was doing that to demonstrate Micki's awkward way of speaking or if it's a limitation of the author. ( )

This was a beautifully crafted, poignant page turner. I LOVED how Liz Moore surprised me over and over with progressive revelations, and kept me engaged in each of the characters' stories. I found myself taking an extra 5 min here, skipping lunch there, staying up way too late the last 2 nights to read as far as I could.

It's my first time reading Moore's work, and I'll make sure to read more from her. ( )

I am not sure what in the description of this book that led me to choose it as my Book of the Month selection several months ago. I have seen it called a crime thriller or a police procedural, but I don’t think those terms are accurate, or at least they are only partly correct, because it is much more complex and layered. This book packs in a lot. Dysfunctional working class family. Gritty urban landscape — in this case, the Kensington area of Philadelphia. Addiction and prostitution. Corrupt, criminal cops. People who abuse trust, predators on the most vulnerable people. Social commentary on poverty, addiction, gentrification. And a tale of two sisters who take very different paths away from their chaotic childhood. The narrator, Michaela “Mickey” Fitzpatrick, is a single-mom Philadelphia cop. Her younger sister, Kasey, descended into the underbelly of the city. Liz Moore grabbed my attention from the first page and propelled me on her flowing prose to the end. A nice surprise. ( )

Kept me up late reading. Dark and sad.

I’m from Philadelphia so I know the area she describes and I grew up not too far from there. I know the neighborhoods and people she’s describing and I know people who have died from their addictions.

Did not guess who the bad guy was (I never do though!) ( )