Ohio, by Stephen Markley

Trigger warning for rape.

Stephen Markley’s Ohio is a novel grows ever more devastating the deeper we get into this grim, profound portrait of a group of friends, enemies, victims, and bullies. It circles back and forth from around the turn of the millennium to 2013, on a night when several characters find themselves back in New Canaan. The more we read, the more we learn what terrible deeds are afoot on that night and why those deeds might (or might not) be justified.

At first, that night seems ordinary apart from the fact that people who thought they fled New Canaan find themselves back in the former steel town. These days, New Canaan has little to offer anyone. The army is a way out for some. Drugs are an easier, more likely option for those who remain. Bill Ashcraft, the lone liberal of New Canaan, is back in town because he’s been hired to do a secret errand for an old flame. Once in town, he quickly gets drunk and high and takes us on a bleary tour of his memories. Then we move on to Stacey Moore, who has come back because the mother of her long lost love has asked Stacey for a favor. After Stacey tells her stories, we meet Danny Eaton, a wounded veteran of three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Danny’s quiet goodness and sense of duty is contrasted with Bill’s strident arguments against the war. Lastly (and most affectingly), we see Tina Ross. This night belongs to Tina—but I can’t say too much, lest I ruin the slow boiling twists of Ohio.

Each section ends with a scene that shows us what’s going on that night. It isn’t until the last section, narrated by Tina, that we see the whole picture. Along the way, there are hints about the guilt that many of the characters are wrestling with and about the crimes that were committed during high school that still need justice or revenge. Ohio rewards readers who pay attention. All of the details are germane. New Canaan’s classes of 2003 and 2004 are a tangled web that cannot be understood without following our four narrators down the roads of the old town. I loved picking it all apart.

I wasn’t sure about Ohio when I started it. Spending time with Bill was rough because, despite his attempts to do some good in the world, he mostly seems to be drunkenly tilting at windmills. He’s also so self-absorbed that he didn’t realize how awful some of his classmates are—especially the villainous Kaylyn Lynn and Todd Beaufort. Once the perspective shifted to other characters, I fell headlong into the narrative. I had enormous sympathy for Stacey, Danny, and Tina. Some readers might struggle with the multiple time lines. There are places where time seems particularly fluid. But this kind of achronological storytelling is catnip for me. Ohio takes the story of high school bullies and their victims and transforms it into one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. It is masterly in its construction and the fully realized portraits of its characters. This book is a dark gem.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration. It will be released 21 August 2018.