The Night Country

by Stewart O'Nan

It is the night before Halloween. And in the small town setting of The Night Country, this also marks the night before the one year anniversary of an accident that cost three high school students their lives.

The story is told mostly by one of them, Marco, with some commentary by the other two victims, Danielle and Toe. The three still live in their town as ghosts that will appear (but remain mostly unnoticed) by the side of people summoning them.

The ones that they visit, and also the main characters in the book, are:

Officer Brooks, the local cop that was involved in the accident. He is lauded as a hero, having saved young Tim's life (he didn't). In reality, though, he may have caused the crash, but how is only revealed very late in the book. The events of that fateful night haunt him and his wife eventually left him and he is not doing a very good job. In fact, he fully expects to lose his job any day now.

Kyle, who has survived the crash but just barely, left with permanent brain damage. He now has the mindset of a small boy and has to be treated as such by his devoted mother and also relies on Tim, whom he works with and who picks him up and drops him off when going to their job at a local supermarket.

Kyles' mom, whose life and plans have been put on hold ever since her son got injured. There is no more talk of moving away as soon as the kids are out of the house, because one of them probably never will be now.

Tim, who lost his girlfriend Danielle in the crash and feels that he should have died with his friends. He sets out to recreate Halloween from last year, going through every stop they made and, finally, hitting the same tree they hit back then. The plan is to take Brooks with him, having him follow the car the same way he did before.

Despite the presence of the ghosts, this is not a ghost story. It is the tragedy of the people left behind and their inability to cope.

Sad, so sad.

8/10