Not much more than a dozen pages into
The Blade Between, the protagonist, Ronan Szepessy, thinks to himself, What the hell happened to Hudson? What the hell happened to Hudson, indeed. That could well be an alternative title for Sam J. Miller s terrific new novel. Substitute the name of any large town or small city (or big city?) in America for Hudson in that sentence, and much (but certainly not all) in Miller s gripping story will ring true. The question remains, just who is besieging Hudson? Hipster invaders? Greedy developers? Fancy shop owners? Or perhaps the disturbed, tortured souls of the whales that were processed there 250 years ago?
Ronan Szepessy promised himself he’d never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City’s distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge. Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom’s wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable. Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real-state developers aren’t the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan’s hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and
Thu Dec 10, 2020 1:30pm
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Ronan Szepessy, a recently-sober gay photographer, promised himself he’d never come home to Hudson no matter his father’s ailing health or his guilt over leaving the dying town behind. And he’s done well keeping that oath, until he wakes up on the train from New York City with no clear memories of boarding. When he arrives he realizes the city has changed: overrun with young, white, wealthy kids, antique stores and coffee bars blossoming in place of family businesses. Gentrification has forced locals from their homes and worsened fractures that have lingered under the surface for decades.