Thank you @penguinpress for providing me with this free copy of Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick to read and review, it was such a compelling reading experience!
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I was really very impressed by this novel, which is Fitzpatrick’s debut. It follows the moving story of Ilya, a gifted Russian student from a small refinery town whose talent for languages is often overshadowed by his older brother’s problems, which become a lot worse when a new drug called Krokodil arrives in Berlozhniki and a series of brutal murders occur. When Ilya gets the opportunity of a lifetime, to go on an exchange trip to America, his determination to stick by his wayward brother might threaten his future...
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What Fitzpatrick does incredibly well is detail the various relationships between her characters. Whether it’s his brother Vladimir, his tutor, or Sadie (his host family’s eldest daughter), I found Ilya’s relationships to be fleshed out, moving and believable. She also explores rocky relationships between mother & daughter with great sensitivity and acuteness.
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The structure works well for the story, as we flip each chapter between Ilya’s present in America and the past year in Russia. I’ve always loved this way of slowly revealing each part of the story until they come together.
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Admittedly I did see the reveal coming (I was actually really proud, I can never guess!) but the point of the novel is more than just a thriller or murder mystery and finding out the killer - it’s primarily a family drama, exploring the often unexplainable sacrifices people make when they care about each other, and the bonds between brothers.