Unlike its predecessor, The Cold Millions, Jess Walter's new novel, SO FAR GONE, is very much set in the here and now — a post-pandemic, post-truth age where everyone seems to be searching for solid footing.
It opens with Rhys Kinnick's young grandchildren suddenly turning up on the porch of his dilapidated remote cabin in rural Stevens County. The retired journalist is quickly yanked out of his self-imposed reclusion and plunged back into the chaos of the world he had abandoned years ago.
The opportunity for some much-needed intergenerational bonding instead devolves into a kidnapping and half-baked rescue attempt that pushes Kinnick into contact with all-too-human characters who also represent the Inland Northwest's often surreal social fabric: religious revivalists, thuggish white supremacists, latter-day hippies, a rudderless and seeking mother, a well-meaning but manic former detective, a prickly ex-girlfriend and a Spokane tribal member with a protective bent.
Although the journey that sees them zigzagging across the region is humorously unpredictable and grimly painful, there are some shots at redemption, too. The question Walter's title seems to prompt is, which characters in his rogues' gallery are too far gone to seize them?
