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The Bright Forever
The Bright Forever
Author: Lee Martin
On an evening like any other, nine-year-old Katie Mackey, daughter of the most affluent family in a small town on the plains of Indiana, sets out on her bicycle to return some library books. — This simple act is at the heart of The Bright Forever, a suspenseful, deeply affecting novel about the choices people make that change their lives forever....  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780307209863
ISBN-10: 0307209865
Publication Date: 4/4/2006
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 210

3.6 stars, based on 210 ratings
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

CrystalRose avatar reviewed The Bright Forever on + 23 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 17
This book was extremely touching for me. It really made me reflect on the "if only I had done or said this" moments we all have in our lives. The story is based on the disappearance of a 9 year old girl and it follows the actions and emotions of each of the characters involved in her disappearance. I loved the way it painted the pictures of these people. Even those responsible were not made out to be truly "evil" only misguided to a point that brough about a tragedy. This book is definately one of the best books I have read so far this year.
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 12
Lee Martin's second novel, âThe Bright Forever,â is a captivating story about the disappearance of nine-year-old Katie Mackey from a small town in Indiana thirty years ago. Like the comparable âMystic River,â âForeverâ is told from the points of view of the different townspeople and neighbors of the missing girl, each chapter being a first-person account from each person as to his or her version of the events that fateful night.

Martin has created an exquisite page-turner, filled with small-town sensibilities, with the requisite small-town atrocities. One does not expect a heartbreaking crime to happen to them, especially in such a trusting town. In a time when people slept with their front doors unlocked and kept a lazy eye on their children, Katie's disappearance affects all who knew and knew of the young girl.

Each individual narrator of each first-person chapter has a distinct voice that comes alive on the page. The desperate loneliness of math teacher Mr. Dees, the young arrogance of Katie's brother Gilley, and the unfamiliar fear the people in the town feel for newcomer Raymond R. Wright, are just a few examples of the vivid feelings Martin is able to capture without exception.

As the reader absorbs the eyewitness accounts, by default they are seeing into the hearts and minds of each witness. Each quirk, every feeling of uncertainty and all displays of moral outrage are placed in full view of the reader, as the character waits for judgment or redemption.

While the âMystic Riverâ comparisons may be unavoidable, âThe Bright Foreverâ is, in it's own right, a masterpiece that draws emotion from the reader like its literary counterpart, yet deserves its own category of individual praise. The reader will be entranced by the story from the get-go and held on until the end by a string of unnerving suspense and quiet disbelief.
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
Lee Martin's second novel, âThe Bright Forever,â is a captivating story about the disappearance of nine-year-old Katie Mackey from a small town in Indiana thirty years ago. Like the comparable âMystic River,â âForeverâ is told from the points of view of the different townspeople and neighbors of the missing girl, each chapter being a first-person account from each person as to his or her version of the events that fateful night.

Martin has created an exquisite page-turner, filled with small-town sensibilities, with the requisite small-town atrocities. One does not expect a heartbreaking crime to happen to them, especially in such a trusting town. In a time when people slept with their front doors unlocked and kept a lazy eye on their children, Katie's disappearance affects all who knew and knew of the young girl.

Each individual narrator of each first-person chapter has a distinct voice that comes alive on the page. The desperate loneliness of math teacher Mr. Dees, the young arrogance of Katie's brother Gilley, and the unfamiliar fear the people in the town feel for newcomer Raymond R. Wright, are just a few examples of the vivid feelings Martin is able to capture without exception.

As the reader absorbs the eyewitness accounts, by default they are seeing into the hearts and minds of each witness. Each quirk, every feeling of uncertainty and all displays of moral outrage are placed in full view of the reader, as the character waits for judgment or redemption.

While the âMystic Riverâ comparisons may be unavoidable, âThe Bright Foreverâ is, in it's own right, a masterpiece that draws emotion from the reader like its literary counterpart, yet deserves its own category of individual praise. The reader will be entranced by the story from the get-go and held on until the end by a string of unnerving suspense and quiet disbelief.
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
A little girl disappears and the story is told from several points of view. Is it always the one you suspect? Maybe not...A quick read, great for vacation.
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 113 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
I read this book very quickly! It was a dark story, and hooked me in the beginning, the middle lagged some, but then it was worth sticking to the end. Interesting perspective on one event from many different viewpoints. Easy to read.
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reviewed The Bright Forever on + 7 more book reviews
I have never read a book by this author before. I enjoyed this book very much. It was written as if the main character in the book was talking to you and telling a story, and asking you "to stick with me" and you will get your answer to the the question of who-dun-it!
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 116 more book reviews
In the Bright Forever, Katie, a sweet nine-year-old girl goes missing from her small town in Indiana. The story unfolds through different characters' voices. It is a successful device that really moves the novel along and makes it a page-turner. Katie's tutor, Mr. Dees, is a particularly memorable character--creepy yet sympathetic.
sewingnancyl avatar reviewed The Bright Forever on + 78 more book reviews
I really enjoyed this book.. A nine year girl goes missing and the story is told from the perspective of her tutor, a neighbor, her brother and the town...Will keep you guessing until the end...
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 12 more book reviews
This book was pretty good. Not great, but interesting.
reviewed The Bright Forever on + 44 more book reviews
What a great story!!! It takes place somewhere around 1960 in a small town, any small town will do. The writer plants us firmly there and then by the many references to news, products, songs and attitudes that were abundant at that time in history. It was a time when something like this could and did happen, certainly a more trusting and complacent time. Told through the eyes and memories of the people actually involved, chapter by chapter, each voice haunting, each narrative riviting, the tension builds steadily. I felt I was there. Myself, one of the many townspeople that experienced this sad saga firsthand, only more so, given the insight into every thought and motive. How we all wish at various times in our lives, that we could go back and change the subtile timing of events to alter the destructive course that follows. How we wish that in this story!!! Regardless, all the pieces fell togethter as they did and the momentum was unstoppable. I could NOT put this book down!!! Until the truth is finally revealed, a surprise, in the final chapter. I only wish ALL books could be this well done! BRAVO!
reviewed The Bright Forever on
Good read, I found the way the author told the story interesting.


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