“There’s no place like home,” Dorothy said.
But Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.”
Are both true? Is neither?
I’m fascinated by home – the actual place and the people that embody it. I believe that home is like that parable about a river, how you can never really return because it’s not the same place as you left. And yet, I think that most of us fall into one of two camps: forever drawn to where our lives began in the hope we can recreate ourselves to fulfill the promise we once held, or running away as fast as we can from the people and things that created us.
In an earlier book – The Girl From Home – I wrote about a high school reunion attended by an underachiever who has become a master of the universe, and in my latest – The Brothers Kenney – I address the issue from the opposite lens, the high school hero coming home after being laid low.
In high school, Sean Kenney was the archetypal big man on campus: handsome, popular, and a star athlete. And then, his life went horribly wrong. So much so that when he is summoned home after an unthinkable family tragedy, he’s near homeless, divorced, and estranged from his children and his siblings.
The question at the heart of the book is whether coming back to the place where it all began, surrounded by people who formed him, will spur Sean to face is demons and become the man that he once upon a time believed he’d grow up to be. Or was it something about the place and these people that led to his current condition?
I’m, of course, not the first writer to grapple with these issues. Here are some other thrillers that address the age-old question of coming home. Fun fact: None of the hometowns depicted in these books real. Nor is East Carlisle, the hometown in The Brothers Kenny, but it is based very much on my hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey. My very strong suspicion is that these fictional hometowns also closely resemble the places that reared their creators.
SHARP OBJECTS by Gillian Flynn
Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small hometown in Wind Gap, Missouri, to cover the murder of two preteen girls, requiring her to confront her own traumatic past. Note too that the catalyst for Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is Amy and Nick Dunne’s relocation from New York City to his hometown in North Carthage, Missouri.
INTO THE WOODS by Tania French
Detective Rob Ryan returns to his hometown of Knocknaree, near Dublin, to investigate a murder that may be connected to a traumatic event from his childhood. Another Tania French book that that involves returning home is Faithful Place.
A GOOD KILLING by Allison Leotta
Federal prosecutor Anna Curtis returns to her hometown of Holly Grove, Michigan, to defend her sister against murder charges. She finds quickly enough that home was not nearly as idyllic as she remembered.
THE LAST HOUSE GUEST by Megan Miranda
Avery Greer returns to her hometown of Littlepoint, Maine, a harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the summer tourists, to uncover the truth about the death of her best friend, Sadie Loman, who spent her summers in Littlepoint.
THE LAST TIME I LIED by Riley Sager
Emma Davis returns to the summer camp where three of her friends disappeared fifteen years earlier to uncover the truth beyond the mystery. Although the camp is not her hometown, it captures the same feeling of a formative place that holds secrets and traumas.
Adam Mitzner is the critically acclaimed bestselling author of A Conflict of Interest, A Case of Redemption, Love Betrayal Murder, and many more exciting thrillers. Suspense Magazine named A Conflict of Interest one of the best books of the year and A Case of Redemption was a finalist for the Silver Gavel Award. A full-time practicing attorney, Mitzner and his family live in New York.
