Review: When Ghosts Come Home (by Wiley Cash)

My Rating: 5 stars 

This was such a fantastic read! Wiley Cash is another one of those authors whose works I've had on my TBR for a while but never got around to reading. Despite this being my first book of his, I still went into this one with high expectations, mostly because I've heard so much about his works and how great of a storyteller he is — I wanted to see / experience it for myself. Well, I can say with certainty now that I'm so glad I did, as I now have another author to add to my favorites list!

Set in Oak Island, North Carolina, the story follows Sheriff Winston Barnes over the course of 4 days in the fall of 1984, as he investigates a mysterious murder. On the night before Halloween, Winston is jolted awake by what sounded like the crash of an airplane — when he goes out to the airport in the middle of the night to investigate, finds more than he bargained for: next to a huge airplane lying with its tail broken on the runaway, Winston finds the body of a black man who had been shot to death. As the investigation in the subsequent days slowly brings to light the truth of what happened that night, the small island town is forced to reckon with the community's deeply rooted racial prejudices that get repeatedly stirred up by a Confederate flag-toting local man hellbent on ousting Winston from his job. There were technically three different threads to the narrative — the main one told involving the investigation into the mysterious abandoned plane and an equally mysterious murder, a secondary thread from the perspective of Winston's daughter Colleen, who returns to her parents' home bearing insurmountable grief over a devastating loss, and a third thread from the perspective of Jay, a teenaged black boy who is also he brother-in-law of Rodney Bellamy (the man found murdered on the airport runway). Through these three intertwining perspectives, the full picture of what happened eventually emerges.

In addition to the fabulous storytelling, the other thing I loved about this book was the realistic depiction of the characters, to the point that I felt like I was reading about real people dealing with real issues. There was also an incredible sense of time and place, which, combined with the well-developed characters and he beautiful, descriptive writing, made this a truly immersive reading experience. This book also hit the mark on an emotional level, as various parts of the story made me simultaneously sad, angry, heartbroken, yet also hopeful, especially during those moments when certain characters stood up to the hatred and bigotry that permeated particular sections of the community. The ending was gut wrenching and unexpected— it actually took me by surprise and made me shed real tears (which doesn't happen often).

As I mentioned earlier, Wiley Cash is now on my list of favorite authors and I am definitely looking forward to exploring his backlist! If you're looking for a powerful, timely story that has a elements of historical fiction, family saga, murder mystery, exploration of various community and social justice issues, etc., this is a perfect read — one I absolutely recommend!

Received ARc from William a Morrow via NetGalley