Holy cow--this one will keep Alzheimer's away, at least for a while. What a twisty, turny concept, only to be turned on its head yet again at the end. The premise is that four strangers overhear a scream while they're at the library, forge friendships based on that experience, then begin to look askance at each other as the story progresses for predictable reasons. But, there's more to the story, and it's definitely not predictable at all.
It's the 1920s and the social constructs of middle America are going strong. A sheriff murders a young man under questionable circumstances, a woman seems to be drifting toward mental illness, a pastor pushes snake-handling onto his congregation and a judge wrestles with how he came to be a judge in the first place. There seems to be some palm-greasing going on and how far back it goes is anybody's guess, and there seems to be danger in trying to find out. At the core of the story is a love story, fragile at times yet lasting.
I know we're not supposed to judge the past by present morals, but it seems that back in the day, (and in this day too?) people were awfully nonchalant when it came to snuffing the life out of another individual. Funny thing, most of those individuals were people of color. Hmm. Imagine that. As the descendent of a KKK member (I was always told, "it was just a men's club"), I was curious about this topic. As it turns out, the only lynching attributable to the KKK on the West Coast was, in fact, in my home town. What do you know. It's shocking to learn how vile people could be, and the lengths to which we've gone (Stand Your Ground people, I'm talking to you) to keep that behavioral cesspool alive and well.
