Michigan has given us some great, manly, fiction writers, like Hemingway, Harrison, and Haruf and now there is Bryan Gruley. They are all conveniently found alphabetically in the same aisle of our library and bookstores.
Full disclosure – Gruley is an old friend of mine from college who won a Pulitzer Prize with the Wall Street Journal after 9-11 and now writes mystery novels. His latest publication, “Bitterfrost,” is his best effort after his warmly received Starvation Lake series. Good writing is a learning progression, just like ski jumping, mountain biking, pickleball or even marriage, and Gruley seems to have hit his stride.
“Bitterfrost” is a cold but bittersweet story about a fictious town in Northern Michigan where a gruesome double murder has occurred and is blamed on local sweetheart, Jimmy Baker, who was a violent hockey goon in a previous life. His local hockey "friend" Devyn Payne is the relentless lawyer, with her own history and baggage, who comes to his defense and rescue.
Sure, there is a likable detective and amiable bartender, but they are just support characters, window dressing to these two all-stars characters.
There are back stories and sub stories, but the plot stays true and simple without any cheap tricks or ironic twists. The writing is terse, and sometimes tense, but flows on an easy cadence, with a powerful "zinger" word, sentence or paragraph on every page. The voice is familiar and friendly, with local Michigan and hockey idioms used to keep it light. There is no gratuitous violence, and no one gets naked, has sex, or falls in love unless it is absolutely necessary to the story. Characters are attractive and agreeable, until they are not.
The obligatory court scenes flow quickly, unlike the real thing, and I make a cameo appearance as the strapping 62-year-old Judge Mathias Lindon. Who done it? Who cares? All you want is for the good writing and reading to continue.
“Bitterfrost” is a smart story of penance, for the bad things we all do. It is also about self-fulfillment and realization, our limits and self-confidence – both true and false. We discover that self-confidence is often a bluff. The first few pages and the entire second chapter neatly foreshadow the rest of the story, which wraps up only when we find out it is really a rom com disguised as a mystery, like life.
Gruley has come into his own, nationally, as a novel writer and is no longer just a regional sensation. He is bonafide. So run, don’t walk to your nearest library to reserve your copy of “Bitterfrost.” It is reading time well spent, that will keep you cool this summer.
Bryan Gruley’s “Bitterfrost” is available at our local libraries. Look for the sequel “River Deep” next year.
