Fast Falls the Night

This is the 6th installment in a series that features Bell Elkins, a Prosecutor in a tired and decaying Appalachian town. While this does work as a standalone novel, I strongly recommend that you start at the beginning with book one, A Killing in the Hills: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) . The storyline involving Bell and her sister will be more meaningful if you understand their prior history. Acker’s Gap, West Virginia is depressingly familiar with the scourge of drugs and addiction and everything that follows in its wake. But on one late summer night a young woman overdoses in a gas station bathroom, followed in quick succession by one overdose after another. The book spans a 24 hour period as law enforcement frantically searches for the source of the lethal heroin, and each of the key players grapples with their own feelings about addiction and the futility of the “war” against drugs. Underscoring the main storyline are the personal crisis that the characters face: Shirley has some life altering news for Bell; a retired deputy sheriff is floundering; a veteran is desperate to get his young daughter out of a bad living situation…all of this simmers beneath the surface as each player struggles with his or her role in the investigation. I’m pretty stingy when it comes to 5-star ratings, but this book simply blew me away. Every time I had to put this down to attend to real life I was desperate to get back to it. The author did an excellent job of creating tension and a sense of urgency, and the personal stories were poignant and sometimes heart-wrenching. Julia Keller is such a strong writer, balancing passages of beautifully descriptive prose with concise plotting and rich characterization. I’ve enjoyed all of the books in this series, but I’ll be thinking about this one for some time to come. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it. The series, in order: * A Killing in the Hills: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) * Bitter River: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) * Summer of the Dead: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) * Last Ragged Breath: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) * Sorrow Road: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels) * Fast Falls the Night: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels)

Brilliant novel in a series

What do we owe to those in need? How much do we help those who don't seem to want to help themselves? These are some of the questions that the characters face in the latest heartbreakingly beautiful Bell Elkins novel. "Fast Falls the Night" takes place in a single 24-hour period. It is a riveting, brutally honest look at a small town as it deals with the problem of drug addiction. If you know these characters already (this is No. 6 in a series), you will understand how deeply they feel the suffering they see. But even if this is your first Bell Elkins mystery, you will come to know these people as if they are personal friends. There is grace here, amid all the sorrow. And it is all wrapped up by the words of the great hymn "Abide With Me," which ends up playing a big role in the story. I read it in one sitting. I'm reading it again. It is moving and unforgettable. An instant classic.

Poor Acker’s Gap, West Virginia. Staggering under a load of misery, its denizens have turned to drugs for solace and a numbing of the pain. But suddenly the number of dying increases exponentially. The heroin has been mixed with a deadly substance called carfentanil. Prosecutor Bell Elkins, Deputy Sheriff Jake Oakes, and others in both medicine and law enforcement are desperate to track this substance to its source so as to prevent yet more overdoses. Having lived away from Acker’s Gap for a period of time, Bell Elkins, feeling a strong imperative, has returned home. She’s determined to help in whatever way she can, as her community and others in the state struggle with this nefarious plague. With regard to her chosen profession, Bell reflects that “…prosecutors had to believe, at least theoretically, in the possibility of redemption.” Sadly, there’s very little redemption in evidence in this extremely downbeat novel. Things seem always to be going from bad to worse, as characters that you’ve come to care about catch one bad break after another. I would love to talk about this book with other readers, but I’m hesitant to propose it for a book discussion; the mood is so relentlessly somber.

Julia Keller keeps a story moving and interesting all along the twists and turns.