Under the Falls

Tyler Sinclair left rural Appalachia when he was 18. Now 36 and a Nashville legend, he’s back with his band, Stone Mountain, to play a benefit concert for an old friend, Doc, who was paralyzed from the waist down by an accident in which Tyler was involved. Tyler didn’t want to return, but his singing partner/wife, Beth, hopes it’ll jolt him out of the melancholy that’s taken hold of him. Still, memories flood in: an abusive father; a mother who gave up on Tyler; living in a town where there’s nowhere to go, nothing to do. The concert sours at the end—not everyone is happy to see Tyler again. Doc never even makes it to the concert, and he dies unexpectedly. A car crash then leaves half the band dead and Tyler no longer able to perform. Good people have turned bad, and it all ties back to Tyler’s precipitate flight from home 18 years before. As usual in a novel by Russo (Bridge of Sighs), all the elements—plot, character, ambience—coalesce in a stunning and deeply sympathetic portrait.