I am not entirely sure how Vlautin’s brief novel reached my library, but it was a perfect accompaniment for the latter part of a transatlantic flight, finished shortly before landing at Heathrow. The novel tells the story of Lynette, a down-on-her-luck thirty year old resident of Portland, who learns that her dream of owning her own home has been put in jeopardy by her mother and determines to do all she can on one fateful night to call in her debts and raise funds for the deposit. Predictably things don’t according to plan. Will Lynette escape everything the night throws at her or will the rainy Portland night destroy her? Whilst the narrative and thematic are generic, there is a warmth to the writer’s portrait of his heroine and a sense of immersion in the geography which helps to keep the read moving. It comes as no surprise for see that the book is already slated to be a movie. It has all the ingredients: a heroine whose desperation drives her to action, the propulsive tension of the night, the unities of time place and action. It’s a hard fast read which is also a love letter to the author’s hometown.
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