WE CAN BE HEROES

Friends of a young woman shot to death by her boyfriend are visited by her ghost in this novel set in a small town whose economy is reliant on a local gun manufacturer.

Told in effective alternating third-person narration, one of which is in verse form, this powerful story of the friendship between Beck, Vivian, and Cassie is at once an intensely personal tale of traumatic grief and an examination of domestic violence and the sociopolitical forces of the gun lobby. Distinct voices are established for each of the three young women. Both Beck, an artist and boundary pusher, and Vivian, determined and practical, have been forever changed by the murder-suicide that killed Cassie and also injured Vivian. Their grief drives them to illegally stage and paint murals of Cassie based on various Greek mythological characters all over their town. That Cassie’s murderer was the privileged son of the owner of Bell Firearms accelerates the tension as Beck and Vivian struggle to draw attention to the horror of what happened to their friend. Transcripts of a podcast about domestic violence are also mixed into the narrative, impressively augmenting the already varied structure. Though the auspicious end seems somewhat aspirational, it fits with the fierce search for justice undertaken by its characters. All main characters seem to be White.

A heartbreaking, intelligent exploration of an all-too-real menace.