Life is hard but if you set a goal, you have something to work for. Lynette’s dream was to buy the house that she, her mother and disabled brother have lived in for many years. Yet as the time comes her mother makes it clear this is not what she wants, Lynette’s world collapses and she is left to figure out her future.

The book held my interest and I wanted to know what happened to Lynnette, and how she would end up. It was a rather depressing book, and although Lynnette grew and learned, most of the time it felt like her life was hopeless and sad. The characters were well drawn, and the dialogue seemed honest and realistic, except for her mother's long winded discussions.
The one detail that most annoyed me was that every time Lynnette started her car, I was told how many times she tried before it started. I get that when she finally got a "new" car, it started on the first try, but to be told countless times before that, that her car never started right away was too repetitious.

My review just got eaten but this one was so good!! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this early copy in exchange for a review.

This is not a happy story and it doesn’t get tied up in a bow, but it’s definitely a real story.

This is the first novel that I have read by Willy Vlautin. I enjoyed the novel and felt the flawed characters were well developed. The main character Lynette takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster on her journey to achieve the "American Dream" throughout the story that takes place over the course of a few days. She scrambles to come up with money to buy the run down house from her landlord because her mother has backed out of the arrangement that was made a few years earlier.

A woman's plan to purchase her family home falls through, leading her on a dangerous overnight quest to acquire the money before it's too late.

Lynette's struggle to make ends meet while working multiple jobs and also caring for her developmentally disabled brother is realistic and disheartening. Mundane events are described in minute detail which, while perhaps an accurate depiction of the drudgery of her daily routine, gives the narrative a plodding quality. Backstory-heavy dialogue also acts a drag.

The pace picks up when Lynette tries to recoup an $8,000 loan she gave a work friend -- an implausible scenario in itself given her own financial situation -- making her the target of various unsavory characters who want the money and more besides. Thankfully there's a glimmer of hope for Lynette at the end of this rather bleak and grinding tale.

This book was extremely painful to read. That's how good it is. When things get bad, they just get worse. The whole thing was rainy. The whole night was a nightmare. The heroine just kept going, however, through beatings, punches, and broken glass. With absolutely no one on her side she persevered in one night to get what she needed, what she deserved, I wouldn't recommend this to someone with a soft heart. The abuse in this woman's life is so unbelievable you have to believe it could happen. I'm glad she's a good pastry chef. It means she has a good heart.

Lynette, a young woman who lives with her mother and disabled older brother who needs constant watching, wants to buy the house they’ve lived in for the past 15 years. The house has been going into disrepair, but Lynette has plans once they buy the place. On the cusp of signing the papers Lynette’s mom says she doesn’t want to live there the rest of her life, in fact would rather not live with Lynette.

A crazy night ensues where Lynette goes around getting as much cash as she can. This part takes up most of the book and it is a wild ride!

The book pulls you into the story and you can’t wait to find out what happens next. There were some long conversations between Lynette and another character: her mom, an ex-boyfriend, etc. The background of the story unfolds in these conversations. I like the way that was done. The driving force behind the book: high housing prices and people barely scraping by, living on the edge.

I barely remember reading this book a week after I read it. It was very one dimensional. The most exciting scenes, like retrieving the safe, still seemed sad and depressing. There need to be a range a emotions, and that didn’t happen here.

This book tried to do too much in a setting that covers 2 days. Lynette, is 30 years old and lives with her mother and brother, Kenny. She has spent the last 2 years saving $30,000 for the down payment for house they are living in but needs her mother the sign the loan. Her mother changes her mind and tells Lynette it is time for her to live on her own. Lynette spends the next 24-36 hours trying to find a way to buy the house by herself. In the process Lynette shows up to work at a bakery, tending bar, being an escort, trying to collect money from a delinquent escort, trying to collect a loan from a friend, stealing a safe, taking the safe to someone to crack and trying to sell cocaine. Plot sounded good but it quickly fell to pieces.

Lynette is desperate. She's 30 & needs to come up with some quick cash to buy the house she's been renting. She's got an uncaring Mother and a special needs brother. The story of the next 48 hours takes her to the seedy areas of Portland and encounters with unsavory characters.
I absolutely loved this book. Lynette seems to define the saying that,"when you have nothing, you have nothing to lose". I loved the vivid descriptions of the people and places. I loved that when we met some characters, Lynette tells us their backstory. For instance, she tells us that her friend Gloria is lying about being an alumni of Catlin Gable school; she actually grew up in a trailer park.
I think this book would make a great movie.

This story was incredible! I'm always on the lookout for a great thriller and this fit the bill! This book kept me hooked till the last page and I can't recommend it enough.

The Night Always Comes
My thanks to #NetGalley and #Harper for this eBook in exchange for an honest review. Honest and raw, this short novel really hits a one-two gut punch asking, how far would you go to fight for the American Dream? Just 30 years old, Lynette finds herself saddled with bad credit, juggling two jobs, school, and caring for her developmentally delayed brother. She wants nothing more than to own their own home, providing stability and the pride of ownership for her family. Things don’t go as planned, and over the course of two days, Lynette finds herself fighting the demons of her past as she comes up against real-life criminals and even her own mother who seems to be set against her. Although it is short on pages, this book is not an easy read. It’s very heavy and somewhat depressing, but the descriptions are beautiful, and the character development is very good.

Grim, raw and brutally honest. This book gives a glimpse at what poverty and the desire to get out, no matter the cost. It's a quick read and you immediately become invested in the characters. I would recommend this book through Reader's Advisory.

The characters were well developed in this depressing, but in the end hopeful story about a young woman attempting to rise beyond the limitations of her family and inherited social class. Life is difficult in America and the land of plenty does not exist for all. The reader glimpses where she is, where she has been, and hopes that her to journey to happiness can be achieved. Great dialogue and descriptions of the seedy side of life make this a story you want to finish.

This novel is all about life on the edges - the edges of Portland, the edges of economic viability, the edges of mental health - set within Lynette's disfunctional family, over the course of less than 30 or so hours. Lynette has working furiously to better her situation, hoping to buy the family home from her landlord as housing prices rise exponentially around her. At the last moment, when she has scraped to get the downpayment, her mother decies she will NOT sign the mortgage, which Lynette is not qualified on her own. In a last ditch effort to make it work, she sets off on an odyssey of collecting old debts and a minature crime spree to accomplish that. Her problems run deeper, and the unpredictible happens repeatedly.

I thought I would only read a page or two because I wasn’t sure I’d like this book. Instead, I read the entire book in two days and couldn’t stop thinking about Lynette, Kenny, and their mother. How can I like Lynette so much, yet be so furious with her for making such bad decisions!

A poignant, heartbreaking book, I loved the character Lynette, but did think the mother’s political rantings were excessive. I get it - things are unfair. It’s hard to pull yourself out of a lower socioeconomic level, but I would rather come to this realization without the author’s heavy handedness on this subject.

This book is a serious work set in gentrifying Portland, OR. As an English major, the text was fascinating to me! I read the first few chapters three times digging out little bits and contemplating why they were there.

I can’t say too much about the book since it hasn’t been released yet and I don’t want to ruin it for future readers. But I cannot resist giving two tips for anyone adding this to their to read list:

1. Notice how the speaker describes the appearance each character in detail, sketching a pretty specific image in the reader’s head. Then, notice when and how the main protagonist receives such detail.

2. Notice the descriptions of cars and how they work, are working, their association with wealth, health, merit, and morality. Not to mention, their link to freedom and independence. Just fascinating.

The Night Always Comes has a publication date of April 6, 2021. I was given an early release copy of this title from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is definitely getting my nod for the Library Read List.

The Night Always Comes is a quick read with one of the most descriptive instances of manic-depression I’ve ever read. Darkness is replete in this novel, from the gritty side streets to the people living on the edge of normalcy. Main character Lynette has worked two jobs and attended community college while trying to help take care of her mentally-disabled brother, saving money for a down payment on the home she shares with him and her mother. Time is of the essence and that’s where the trouble begins. All she wants is what is owed her...The Night Always Comes begs for a sequel.

Willy Vlautin creates a window into a world not many of us know. His characters never fall wholly into the sinner or saint category but you always root for them. They are ordinary people who find themselves in a bind and we always want someone to help them. Lynette is a prime example. She is 30 years old and far from perfect but so close to realizing the dream that has consumed her for the past three years. Working herself to death at three jobs (not all of them doing something that her mom would approve of ) she is ready to buy the house that she, her mom and her developmentally disabled brother Kenny have been renting. Just when she is so close, her mother pulls out and uses the saved money to buy a car leaving Lynette in the lurch scrambling to come up with the rest of the downpayment. What she does in the next few days she may not be proud of but she is desperate. Battling with depression and other demons she has fought so long to control she goes back to collect what is owed her. Flashbacks explain why she makes some of the choices she does. This is a lyrical, bittersweet look at working class people who are doing well enough to not qualify for help but still not well enough to grab the American Dream. If you are new to Willy Vlautin, this will make you a fan for life and if you are already a fan you will be looking for someone to pass the book to the minute you finish it.

Lynette is 30 years old and has been working diligently for three years to come up with enough money for a down payment to purchase the house that she, her developmentally delayed brother , and her mother currently live in. As the deadline approaches, Lynette learns her mother does not want to take out a loan to seal the purchase. As we watch Lynette desperately gather more money through friends that owe her, we learn more about her past and periods of darkness that overwhelmed her and her mother. Vlautin had written a real story about obtaining the American dream of owning a home and the means that people will go through in order to make that dream come true.