UNDER THE FALLS

A native son returns to his upstate New York hometown, bringing along a peck of trouble.

In Pulitzer Prize–winner Russo’s latest, Nashville icon Tyler Sinclair is returning with his band, Stone Mountain, to his hometown, Stone Mountain, New York, to perform a benefit concert for an old friend, Tim Dockery, known as Doc. When the men were teens, Doc was paralyzed in an accident at the local swimming hole. A few years later, Tyler left town without a word to anyone to pursue what turned out to be a mega-successful music career. But his initial encounter with Doc goes wonky when his old friend suggests that Tyler isn’t universally beloved in his old haunts, and that some may even blame him for what happened at the Falls that day. Then things turn completely south, with the concert interrupted by news of a tragic death, followed by a fatal accident—or maybe it wasn’t an accident. Male friendship, flawed moral character, helpless and enduring romantic love, small-town police, class distinctions between neighboring rural towns—many of the elements of classic Russo are here, but a darker, faster-moving narrative than usual gives the characters less time and space to bloom in our hearts, and there are a number of plot points that don’t bear close scrutiny. In an afterword, the author mentions the novel’s origins as a TV pilot that didn’t survive the writers strike; that might account for both the pacing and the less satisfying character development. Fans would be better served by revisiting the North Bath trilogy or the ever-delightful Straight Man (1997), so full of the trademark Russo humor that’s lacking here.

Has much in common with the author’s most beloved novels, but lacks a few degrees of warmth.