Liz Moore

Fiction 2020 | 480 pages

Mickey (Michaela) Fitzpatrick is the star of One Bright River.  She is a beat cop in Kensington, a less desirable location in Philadelphia.  This is a part of Philly where people go to get heroine, OxyContin, and numerous other drugs.  They wander the streets, the abandoned houses and storefronts in search of their next fix. Addiction and its deleterious effects are brutally on the pages of One Bright River.  Not surprisingly, this is also a part of the city where prostitutes hang on every corner.  Mickey tries to protect the most vulnerable of these sad people, and faces an uphill battle.  Four young women are murdered on her watch over a period of a few weeks.

Mickey’s younger sister Kacey lives among the people of these neighborhoods.  Of course, she has tried to get healthy and off the drugs many times, but it never lasts long.  Mickey has not told  many people that she attempts to keep an eye out for her sister while she does her police job.

Mickey and Kacey are estranged.  Still, it seems it has been too long since Mickey saw Kacey, even from a distance, and begins a private search for her.  She seems to have gone missing.  In this novel, we search for Kacey, as well as whoever is perpetrating murder.

The storyline moves back and forth between “Then” and “Now.”  “Then” is about the close and loving relationship Mickey and Kacey had as children, despite challenging circumstances.  “Now” is about Mickey out on the streets, doing her job, and trying to care for her four-year-old son, Thomas.

Long Bright River is a well-written suspense novel. I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it highly.  Mickey and the other characters have depth, personality, values, morals, quirks, proclivities.  Liz Moore is an excellent writer of the genre.  She keeps you turning the page.

July 2026