The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney

In The Long and Faraway Gone, Lou Berney tells an intimate story of two psychologically scarred yet unrelated people and by doing so takes a look at the impact of violence on its survivors.

In the summer of 1986, two tragedies made headlines in Oklahoma City.  Six movie theater employees were murdered in an armed robbery and one employee was unharmed.  Then a teenage girl disappeared from the midway at the State Fair leaving her younger sister abandoned.  Neither crime is ever solved and the surviving victim of each crime is left disturbed.  Wyatt, the surviving theater employee is haunted by why he was spared and Julianna, the younger sister of the missing teenager can’t accept that she was deserted by someone she loved.  Now twenty five years later, these questions still haunt the survivors and have defined their lives.

After the ordeal, Wyatt changed his name, moved to Las Vegas and became a private investigator.  He could not stand being recognized and singled out as ‘the lucky one’ with no idea why the gunmen chose to spare only him.  Then his best client sends him on a case back to Oklahoma City.  While there he feels drawn to use his professional skills to re-investigate the crime that altered his life.

Julianna became a nurse but ironically could never truly trust anyone enough to form more than a superficial relationship.  Then a carnival worker who was a person of interest the night her sister disappeared moves back to the area.  Julianna stalks the guy hoping to extract some morsel of information that could ease her mind.

While Wyatt and Julianna never actually know each other, they share a desperation in their broken, parallel lives that drives them to try and solve crimes a quarter century old.

I found this book fascinating.  I’ve always heard that children are resilient and can handle psychological trauma well.  But clearly some violent events are so life altering, particularly when there is no closure and no apparent logical explanation, that the question, “Why me?” haunts them to the grave and impacts every part of their lives.  The author communicates this well and as a tease he keeps you wondering when/if his two protagonists will ever cross paths... nice work.