A review by heather425
Ohio by Stephen Markley
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.
I'm a firm believer that all small towns have their secrets. I think Markley believes this too. And he reveals some big secrets of New Canaan, Ohio. This book begins as one young man returns home about ten years after high school gradation with a package taped under the fender of his pickup truck. On this fateful night he runs into several classmates and we learn of three who are also on missions of their own. Ohio unfolds in four chapters: Bill Ashcraft, Stacey Moore, Dan Eaton, and Tina Ross. Within those chapters we learn of their interconnected lives in high school and to the night they all reconnect in 2013. Markley shows the horrible effects of the boredom of coming of age in a small town. And sometimes boredom leads to devious acts. These devious acts are what keeps the book moving. It can also be hard to read some of the gory details, but they are necessary to the story. The prose in this book is beautiful and all the twists and turns do not feel overdone. I look forward to Markley's next novel.
I'm a firm believer that all small towns have their secrets. I think Markley believes this too. And he reveals some big secrets of New Canaan, Ohio. This book begins as one young man returns home about ten years after high school gradation with a package taped under the fender of his pickup truck. On this fateful night he runs into several classmates and we learn of three who are also on missions of their own. Ohio unfolds in four chapters: Bill Ashcraft, Stacey Moore, Dan Eaton, and Tina Ross. Within those chapters we learn of their interconnected lives in high school and to the night they all reconnect in 2013. Markley shows the horrible effects of the boredom of coming of age in a small town. And sometimes boredom leads to devious acts. These devious acts are what keeps the book moving. It can also be hard to read some of the gory details, but they are necessary to the story. The prose in this book is beautiful and all the twists and turns do not feel overdone. I look forward to Markley's next novel.