When Ghosts Come Home

A sheriff in the south in the 1980s has a mystery on his hands. Someone abandoned an airplane on the runway of the local airport. While there's nothing in the aircraft, there is a body on the tarmac, and soon local folks draw the conclusion that the dead man was involved in drug running. It's all inflamed by racism (the victim is Black) and a red-hot campaign to replace the sheriff with a man who is openly white supremacist, given to terrorizing the Black community that lives on a plot of land he would like to develop. returnreturnThe pros: a strong sense of place, a gnarly mystery, and a sympathetic protagonist. Character development is in depth and involving. The author doesn't shy away from dealing with racism. returnreturnThe cons: the conflict is far from subtle and the villain is so villainous it's a bit much. In real life, there are political actors who are shockingly corrupt and racist without apology, but somehow in fiction I want a little more subtlety. Is that a failure to address real life in all its ugliness? Maybe .... but compared to the complexity and detail devoted to the sheriff's and the victim's families, his opponent seemed to be drawn with a crayon.

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.