A review by scknitter
Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick

5.0

Ilya and his older brother Vladimir could not be more opposite. Vladimir is a poor student, gets in trouble constantly and eventually turns to drugs. Ilya is brilliant, has a true gift for language, and with the mentoring of a special teacher he has blossomed. But, they both have the same dream – to get out of their small bleak and depressing mining town in remote Russia and go to the US. Ilya idolizes his older brother while at the same time knowing he should not let his bad ways affect his chances of winning a chance in an exchange program. Ilya’s dream eventually comes true and he goes to America to live with a family in a small town in LA. The excitement of this achievement is dampened by the fact that Vladimir after almost dying from drugs, and losing a leg to gangrene, is arrested for the murder of three young women. The plot is driven by the mystery of the murders and Ilya’s determination to try and prove his brother’s innocence while at the same time assimilating into the life of a high school student in America. Lights All Night Long is a beautiful, sad, compelling and totally mesmerizing coming of age story. It paints such a bleak picture of life in the small Russian town that it is no wonder that people will do anything to try and survive, and to achieve the ultimate dream of coming to America. It is also a story of drugs, and how they harm even those who don't use them. But most of all it is a story of family and love and loyalty and forgiveness.