We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

 

This one is a 4 1/2 star read.  Very atmospheric with main characters that are very much down on their luck, this novel is so well written that you can't put it down, even as these characters face blow after blow in their going nowhere lives.  While set in California, I got the sense that this could have also been set in Alabama or my home state of South Carolina.  Small town, local boy turned Police Chief Walker (Walk to his friends) who still reels from the fact that his testimony decades earlier helped to put his best friend in jail.  He looks after Vincent's addicted high school girlfriend and her struggling kids, Duchess and Robin.  And he pines after his own lost love, Martha May, who moved away years ago.  Life seems a standstill, and he is doing the best he can to plod along.  Until Vincent gets out of jail, a stranger comes to town trying to buy up property, and secrets start exploding.

There are several plot lines here.  You'll hear from more than one reader that Duchess is one of the best young female characters you'll find.  (Hello, Chris, sequel material?)  She is tough, she is self-sufficient and not by choice, and she is fiercely protective of her little brother.  She will literally do ANYTHING for him.  Another reviewer on Goodreads compared her to a younger version of Ruth on Ozark.  Spot on!  She is the Outlaw Duchess Day Radley.  Do not cross her.

You'll also find a man so torn by his past that he cannot face those he loves.  Another man hiding a secret that could cost him his job. Hell, everyone in this story has a secret.  Some you'll know, others you won't.  There is an angel in disguise waiting patiently to just be there, and another one willing to take a second chance. 

And don't you dare read the end first.  There is one of the best last lines ever here that will break your heart and lift it up at the same time. 

I don't mean this to sound like this book will bring you all the way down to the depths of depression.  It is sad and it is beautiful, and it is definitely redemptive.  Do all the story lines end happily? Nah.  But you know what?  That's life.  It ended better than I thought, and tragically too.  At first I was a little bummed after reading this, hence no five stars, but now that I am reviewing and rethinking I definitely would recommend this one.  Just read a happy book next!!

A great book club pick - lots to unpack here.  Thank you, Mama, for this recommendation!!! (And, for buying me the book when we accidentally went to the bookstore, as we do. ;-))

Not to mention, this author was pretty brave to use the last name Radley. Anyone else immediately think of Boo from To Kill a Mockingbird??  I am sure English Lit majors can draw some deep parallels there!