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. It isn’t until the last section, narrated by Tina, that we see the whole picture. This night belongs to Tina-but I can’t say too much, lest I ruin the slow boiling twists of Ohio.Įach section ends with a scene that shows us what’s going on that night. Lastly (and most affectingly), we see Tina Ross. Danny’s quiet goodness and sense of duty is contrasted with Bill’s strident arguments against the war. After Stacey tells her stories, we meet Danny Eaton, a wounded veteran of three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. 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. Once in town, he quickly gets drunk and high and takes us on a bleary tour of his memories. 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. Drugs are an easier, more likely option for those who remain. These days, New Canaan has little to offer anyone. 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.Īt 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. 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. Stephen Markley’s Ohiois a novel grows ever more devastating the deeper we get into this grim, profound portrait of a group of friends, enemies, victims, and bullies.

Ohio stephen markley review