Long Way Down

Dark histories overlap within two California communities in this underheated slow-burn from Kusel (The Widow on Dwyer Court). Working-class Prosperity is separated from affluent Gold Hills by the Osbourne River Bridge, a “demarcation line between the have-nots and the haves.” Deni Rydell lives in a modest house in Prosperity with her father and waitresses at a small café. When Gold Hills resident Cal Cooper, heir to a natural resource fortune, proposes to Deni, she’s thrilled, though Cal’s parents are openly disgusted by the news. Deni starts to grow wary, however, when Cal’s older brother Grant returns home from an expensive stint in a Southern California rehab facility with a sexy new girlfriend, and everyone in the family starts acting strangely. Then Cal and his parents die in a private plane crash, and soon afterward, Deni’s former high school friend, Luna, is brutally murdered. As Gold Hills police detective Robyn Torres looks into Luna’s death, she digs up dirt on the Coopers that could ruin Deni’s life. Two-dimensional characters, protracted pacing, and a predictable plot keep this small-town thriller from taking flight. It’s a misfire. Agent: Stacey Donaghy, Donaghy Literary. (Oct.)