When Ghosts Come Home

2021 • 290 pages

Ratings7

Average rating3.3

Winner of the SIBA Southern Book Prize for Fiction “I loved it and devoured it with fury, straight to its blazing end.” —Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers From the New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home, a tender and haunting story of a father and daughter, crime and forgiveness, race and memory. When the roar of a low-flying plane awakens him in the middle of the night, Sheriff Winston Barnes knows something strange is happening at the nearby airfield on the coast of North Carolina. But nothing can prepare him for what he finds: a large airplane has crash-landed and is now sitting sideways on the runway, and there are no signs of a pilot or cargo. When the body of a local man is discovered—shot dead and lying on the grass near the crash site—Winston begins a murder investigation that will change the course of his life and the fate of the community that he has sworn to protect. Everyone is a suspect, including the dead man. As rumors and accusations fly, long-simmering racial tensions explode overnight, and Winston, whose own tragic past has followed him like a ghost, must do his duty while facing the painful repercussions of old decisions. Winston also knows that his days as sheriff may be numbered. He’s up for re-election against a corrupt and well-connected challenger, and his deputies are choosing sides. As if these events weren’t troubling enough, he must finally confront his daughter Colleen, who has come home grieving a shattering loss she cannot fully articulate. As the suspense builds and this compelling mystery unfolds, Wiley Cash delves deep into the hearts of these richly drawn, achingly sympathetic characters to reveal the nobility of an ordinary man struggling amidst terrifying, extraordinary circumstances.

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Genre

Fiction

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Alana

A beautiful cover, first off, and an all in all good story that I enjoyed. Yeah, there were times where I was like “hey, do we need all this prose to get this point across? I think not?” and there was a lot of excess in terms of that, but hey, it was still a solid read and I wanted to pick the book up every time I crossed paths with that ethereal cover.

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altlovesbooks

I received this book free via Goodreads Giveaways.

This is a general fiction book more than it is a mystery or a thriller. Considering the setting (1984, North Carolina, small island community), I was expecting a bit more investigations, a bit more excitement. Instead, I got a fiction book about a family that, on the surface looks calm and together, but underneath is paddling furiously just to stay afloat.

Winston is the sheriff of the small island community, up for re-election soon and running against a good old boy Brad Frye who wants to take his place, take the power and prestige, and bask in the glory. A plane crashes at the small airport, a body is found shot to death outside, and the cargo is missing. Winston investigates, but is hampered throughout the book by FBI, by his own law enforcement, and by Brad Frye himself.

Colleen is Winston's daughter, staying with her parents again (ostensibly only for a short time) after a miscarriage and a weakening (in her eyes) marriage. We're treated to her drinking beer and getting buzzed before falling asleep, lots of ruminations on her lost child, and how annoying it is living with your parents again as an adult.

Marie is Winston's wife, battling cancer. Aside from that and her penchant for small town gossip (both receiving and spreading), she exists in this book.

There's also side stories involving racial tensions on the island between Frye and his gang of like-minded individuals speeding around in pickup trucks in the middle of the night and flying rebel flags and Winston. I could take or leave these parts of the book, not because it's unimportant, but because it feels like the book is already trying to do too much at once.

And that ending.... I don't use this much in formal Goodreads reviews, but, wtf? So Winston is invited to fly with the FBI pilot Groom back to the main hub airport and does so, but then never arrives? And according to the FBI Groom was on vacation and was never sent by the FBI to retrieve the plane, and both of them vanish, never to be seen again? And that's it.

Maybe this book wasn't for me, but I tried to give it a fair shake. But with a bland cast of characters (except for Colleen who made me roll my eyes more than once), a tone that could never decide what it wanted to be, and an ending that just...what? I was not on board with this book.