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Where Night Stops
We're born with a finite number of opportunities. Attrition, bad choices, misspent goodwill, and fucked-up luck. The opportunities dwindle through a process called living. Our portfolio of prospects turns into a tattered novel of outcomes.
I am twenty-two.
***
Orphaned by a brutal car crash, a young man lives with no plans for the future. Leaving his small town of Windstop, Iowa, he finds his way to Seattle, where he ends up broke and sleeping in a homeless shelter. There he meets Ray-Ray, an Iranian with a shadowy past, who initiates him into a new life. When Ray-Ray disappears, the young man is left to fend for himself through carrying out clandestine drops for cash from an anonymous source. At first, it's perfect: living without the responsibilities of a real job or a proper home. But then the scope of his travels widens to Europe, Brazil, and China, leading him deep into a conflict of international proportion.
Soon, he finds himself targeted for death, but from whom or for what reason, he's not sure. The only thing that he's sure of is that if he wants to survive, he needs a plan―now. Because at noon, they're coming to kill him.
I am twenty-two.
***
Orphaned by a brutal car crash, a young man lives with no plans for the future. Leaving his small town of Windstop, Iowa, he finds his way to Seattle, where he ends up broke and sleeping in a homeless shelter. There he meets Ray-Ray, an Iranian with a shadowy past, who initiates him into a new life. When Ray-Ray disappears, the young man is left to fend for himself through carrying out clandestine drops for cash from an anonymous source. At first, it's perfect: living without the responsibilities of a real job or a proper home. But then the scope of his travels widens to Europe, Brazil, and China, leading him deep into a conflict of international proportion.
Soon, he finds himself targeted for death, but from whom or for what reason, he's not sure. The only thing that he's sure of is that if he wants to survive, he needs a plan―now. Because at noon, they're coming to kill him.
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2018
5 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Light
7 books18 followersDouglas Light is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer. His novel, East Fifth Bliss, won the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Fiction. He co-wrote the screen adaptation of East Fifth Bliss, which star Michael C. Hall, Peter Fonda, Lucy Liu, and Sarah Shahi. His story collection, Girls in Trouble, received the AWP 2010 Grace Paley Prize. It will be published by the University of Massachusetts Press in October 2011. His novel, Where Night Stops, will be published in January 2012.
His fiction has won an O. Henry Prize and appeared in the Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology, Narrative, Guernica, Alaska Quarterly Review, and other publications.
His fiction has won an O. Henry Prize and appeared in the Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology, Narrative, Guernica, Alaska Quarterly Review, and other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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November 4, 2017It's my pleasure to be working with Douglas on the promotion of this title. The book drops on January 16th, but if you're interested in reviewing it for us, I'd be happy to send a PDF or Epub your way.
Where Night Stops is one of those stories where everything is crumbling in around our poor protagonist's knees. This guys's been dealt a pretty shitty hand but damn if he doesn't turn his crap luck into something salvageable, so long as he can continue to elude whoever's hunting him down. What's the saying, if it's too good to be true...?
Literary fiction with an edge of noir, and one hell of a ridiculously amazing page turner. I read it in nearly one sitting!
Hit me up if you'd like to check it out and review it for us!
Where Night Stops is one of those stories where everything is crumbling in around our poor protagonist's knees. This guys's been dealt a pretty shitty hand but damn if he doesn't turn his crap luck into something salvageable, so long as he can continue to elude whoever's hunting him down. What's the saying, if it's too good to be true...?
Literary fiction with an edge of noir, and one hell of a ridiculously amazing page turner. I read it in nearly one sitting!
Hit me up if you'd like to check it out and review it for us!
February 9, 2018
Podcast interview with the author here. :)
I enjoyed this one a lot!
Chapters are short and arranged in a way that appeared, to me, thematic rather than linear. This was an interesting and risky choice!
The protagonist, seemingly aimless at first, becomes embroiled in an initially exciting yet dangerous international mission, allowing the author to transport the reader to a number of effortlessly. Myriad characters that grace the comparatively few pages of this book are all memorable and have their say. A veritable digressive polyphony of musings on life's sporadic direction, on its randomly enforced chaos. Food for thought for all.
The writing style most reminded me of what little Jay McInerney I've read-- also echoes of Denis Johnson, Carver and McCarthy at times too.
A great book, highly recommended--and I'll be chatting with its author hopefully this weekend! [Contemporary equivalent of stay tuned] for that podcast episode :D
I enjoyed this one a lot!
Chapters are short and arranged in a way that appeared, to me, thematic rather than linear. This was an interesting and risky choice!
The protagonist, seemingly aimless at first, becomes embroiled in an initially exciting yet dangerous international mission, allowing the author to transport the reader to a number of effortlessly. Myriad characters that grace the comparatively few pages of this book are all memorable and have their say. A veritable digressive polyphony of musings on life's sporadic direction, on its randomly enforced chaos. Food for thought for all.
The writing style most reminded me of what little Jay McInerney I've read-- also echoes of Denis Johnson, Carver and McCarthy at times too.
A great book, highly recommended--and I'll be chatting with its author hopefully this weekend! [Contemporary equivalent of stay tuned] for that podcast episode :D
January 17, 2018
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Now, that's how you start a novel.
So, our narrator is orphaned the night after his high school graduation -- however odd it may feel to call someone on the cusp of adulthood an orphan, he is one (and the back of the book says so). Suddenly his college dreams, plans for the future are gone, as is his past (other than memories). He finds his way from Iowa to Seattle and takes up residence in a homeless shelter. The closest thing he has to a friend there sets him up with a way to make some money -- more than he'd been able to scrape together from an under-the-table gig at a gas station.
It's obviously not above-board, but it's good money. What else is a kid with no ties to society, no dreams, no means and nothing better to do? We bounce back and forth between the opening scene (and what follows) in the bar and his burgeoning criminal career. He bounces all of the globe playing small roles in what are likely significant crimes. The resulting story is a combination of tragedy, comedy of errors and Bildungsroman. All of which leads up to a concluding scene that is at once unexpected and the only appropriate thing that could've happened.
As a reader. you're never impressed with our narrator's choices. You may understand them, but it's hard to be behind them. Especially because after a certain point, our young man makes a giant mistake. The reader knows this -- and has to hope that whatever he does, he figures out his mistake or gets out of this life soon.
The plot's decent and will carry you along well enough. But it's not why you will stick with this book (at least not primarily), it's Light's writing. In the middle of all this, there are sentences like, "Walking the empty night street, my kidneys rattled with anxiety." I'm pretty sure this is biologically nonsensical (I haven't bothered to check with my son's nephrologist, but I was tempted to), but that doesn't stop it from being incredibly effective -- you know precisely what Light's going for there, and in the moment, your kidneys felts a little weird. There's something to his writing that made me stop every so often to re-read a sentence or paragraph or passage -- not because I missed something or didn't understand what was happening, but because Light captured a moment, an idea, or phrase in such an engaging way that I didn't want to move on.
I'm not sure if this is a very literary thriller, or a literary novel playing with thriller tropes. Nor am I sure that I care, but this is the kind of book that can appeal to both target audiences. It's a good example of either genre, and a better example of why the distinctions are specious. There's an interesting crime story here; a character study; a look at what happens to someone who has no connection to his future, society, or his past -- oh, and it's a good read, too.
Disclaimer: I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion about the novel, I appreciate the opportunity, but it didn't influence the above.
---
She smells of lemons and warm cinnamon and isn't very pretty. Sliding onto the barstool next to me, she says, "Can I sit here?"
The bartender, the woman, and me -- we're the only people in the bar. She can sit anywhere. It's not just a seat she wants.
I study her a moment then catch the bartender's eye, the order is placed without a word. Whatever the woman wants. Alcohol, like long marriages, has a language of its own, one not composed of speech.
Now, that's how you start a novel.
So, our narrator is orphaned the night after his high school graduation -- however odd it may feel to call someone on the cusp of adulthood an orphan, he is one (and the back of the book says so). Suddenly his college dreams, plans for the future are gone, as is his past (other than memories). He finds his way from Iowa to Seattle and takes up residence in a homeless shelter. The closest thing he has to a friend there sets him up with a way to make some money -- more than he'd been able to scrape together from an under-the-table gig at a gas station.
It's obviously not above-board, but it's good money. What else is a kid with no ties to society, no dreams, no means and nothing better to do? We bounce back and forth between the opening scene (and what follows) in the bar and his burgeoning criminal career. He bounces all of the globe playing small roles in what are likely significant crimes. The resulting story is a combination of tragedy, comedy of errors and Bildungsroman. All of which leads up to a concluding scene that is at once unexpected and the only appropriate thing that could've happened.
As a reader. you're never impressed with our narrator's choices. You may understand them, but it's hard to be behind them. Especially because after a certain point, our young man makes a giant mistake. The reader knows this -- and has to hope that whatever he does, he figures out his mistake or gets out of this life soon.
The plot's decent and will carry you along well enough. But it's not why you will stick with this book (at least not primarily), it's Light's writing. In the middle of all this, there are sentences like, "Walking the empty night street, my kidneys rattled with anxiety." I'm pretty sure this is biologically nonsensical (I haven't bothered to check with my son's nephrologist, but I was tempted to), but that doesn't stop it from being incredibly effective -- you know precisely what Light's going for there, and in the moment, your kidneys felts a little weird. There's something to his writing that made me stop every so often to re-read a sentence or paragraph or passage -- not because I missed something or didn't understand what was happening, but because Light captured a moment, an idea, or phrase in such an engaging way that I didn't want to move on.
I'm not sure if this is a very literary thriller, or a literary novel playing with thriller tropes. Nor am I sure that I care, but this is the kind of book that can appeal to both target audiences. It's a good example of either genre, and a better example of why the distinctions are specious. There's an interesting crime story here; a character study; a look at what happens to someone who has no connection to his future, society, or his past -- oh, and it's a good read, too.
Disclaimer: I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion about the novel, I appreciate the opportunity, but it didn't influence the above.
April 16, 2018
I received a PDF copy of this book by Lori to review for her and Douglas to work in promotion for this book. The publish date as of right now is January 16th, 2018.
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4-stars
I didn't have enough time to finish this book in one sitting like I wanted to, but boy was this one intense page-turner! I didn't have anything against Light's writing - it wasn't super bad, but it wasn't super good, in my opinion. It was kind of... normal, but normal in a good way. The farther that I got into this, all of the different skipping and subplots made it somewhat difficult for me to follow at times, but that being said, all of the subplots were well developed and had a good purpose to be in the story as they helped us out. Definitely a fast-moving book, when it comes to the plot. I like the characters that Light developed, added, and created throughout this book. Overall, a pretty good read! I was expecting this to be a good book just by the synopsis, and I would say it was pretty successful and being a "good book" in my eyes.
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4-stars
I didn't have enough time to finish this book in one sitting like I wanted to, but boy was this one intense page-turner! I didn't have anything against Light's writing - it wasn't super bad, but it wasn't super good, in my opinion. It was kind of... normal, but normal in a good way. The farther that I got into this, all of the different skipping and subplots made it somewhat difficult for me to follow at times, but that being said, all of the subplots were well developed and had a good purpose to be in the story as they helped us out. Definitely a fast-moving book, when it comes to the plot. I like the characters that Light developed, added, and created throughout this book. Overall, a pretty good read! I was expecting this to be a good book just by the synopsis, and I would say it was pretty successful and being a "good book" in my eyes.
November 20, 2017
There's a lot of truth here: knowledge, facts, trivia, but also just a way of being human that rings true. I feel like I know all of these characters; and if I don't, I fully believe they're out there. "The problem rests with the translation." I kept thinking about my own life when I was reading this book, even though my life is nothing like this book. Translation constantly muddies things up. I teach creative writing at a community college, and in some ways I want my students to stick to the old adage, write what you know. But then I read something like this and I think, it IS possible to write something entirely imagined--as long as your imagination is as sharp as Light's. My guess is, he's wildly well read. And so he gains trust: he gets Harlem right, and Seattle, and all of Florida--there IS that restaurant with no menu, the competing cool coffee shops, the beach littered with jellyfish. I plan on reading this again--maybe even teaching it.
February 3, 2018
Where Night Stops, a new novel by Douglas Light, is a gripping thriller written in deliciously literary prose. The protagonist ends up over his head in a money laundering scheme when a homeless man named Ray-Ray hands him a message in a bar of soap. That message leads him to the local library, which sets him off on a series of jobs that seem easy enough, and pay well. There’s just one problem: he has no idea what he’s doing, no idea why someone is paying him $300 to pick up checks from pre-arranged points and deposit them in library books. He calls these mysterious jobs “Kam Manning,” and inches in further and further, convincing himself that he’s not doing anything wrong.
The novel unravels slowly. It starts with our narrator in a bar with a woman who complains of being ugly. She sits next to our protagonist, trading a few lines of witty banter. She says that “My heart is a divided Vienna,” referencing Orson Welles’s The Third Man.
Read the rest of our review here.
The novel unravels slowly. It starts with our narrator in a bar with a woman who complains of being ugly. She sits next to our protagonist, trading a few lines of witty banter. She says that “My heart is a divided Vienna,” referencing Orson Welles’s The Third Man.
Read the rest of our review here.
December 20, 2017
Where Night Stops is a light read, one that could be an accompaniment to a train journey or an irritatingly long wait in a waiting room. While the happenings could occasionally come across as contrived, it is still a gripping tale that talks about identity and the impacts of life decisions.
Full Review: https://nookandabook.wordpress.com/20...
Full Review: https://nookandabook.wordpress.com/20...
April 3, 2018
Full Review
Where Night Stops is a well-crafted and entertaining literary crime novel. It maintains a balance of action, mystery, and insight into the narrator's psychology. It's a look into trying to find connections when one loses their roots and trying to find one's own independent identity. I recommend this book, especially to fans of unconventional crime stories.
Where Night Stops is a well-crafted and entertaining literary crime novel. It maintains a balance of action, mystery, and insight into the narrator's psychology. It's a look into trying to find connections when one loses their roots and trying to find one's own independent identity. I recommend this book, especially to fans of unconventional crime stories.
April 18, 2018
It was a bit like Markus Zusak's I Am The Mesenger and Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy. I don't know what to make of it but the plot twists are really good.
You can really trust no one but yourself.
You can really trust no one but yourself.
December 27, 2018
I like the short chapters, I must admit... And it is hard to figure out where the story is going, so it kept my attention. It was hard to keep some of the characters straight, but it was overall an interesting, dark book.
August 4, 2018
Disturbing, could not put it down, violent...I don't believe the main character also narrator ever discovers his self idenity.
June 10, 2024
A quick read that hooks you from the beginning. What a journey through the illusions of life and how opportunities and choices don't have to define who you are.
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January 26, 2018Writing a review of this for Alternating Current.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews