False Light: A Novel

This sizzlingly insightful novel centers around Sandy "Fuse" Petty, a longtime investigative reporter now being investigated himself by his employer, a newspaper that seems to be carrying water for several left-of-center organizations. Petty is depressed and angry about how journalism has descended "from being an instrument of chronicling to an instrument of vengeance," a trend he has watched helplessly for decades. Now, he is using his investigative chops to find out why a young reporter at his paper, Gretchen Kramer, has targeted Petty for professional destruction.

Petty is, however, equally focused on Samantha, the college-age daughter of Petty's closest friends, who was raped by an arrogant, unschooled "reporter" named Pacho Craig, who has become wealthy and famous through careless "gotcha!" online interviews that have destroyed people's lives. The novel follow's Petty's brilliant orchestration in taking down both of these nemeses.

Sub-plots revolve around the complex relationships Petty has with his emotionally abusive elderly father; his beloved wife, Joey; their daughter, Finn; and close friendships with Samantha's parents and another woman named Haddon. They and Joey have been friends since junior high, and lingering romantic attractions continue to burble to the surface. To me, these subplots didn't work as well as they might have.

The novel moves quickly, smartly, with clever, often very funny dialogue. It raises important issues about how even today, rape victims have a very difficult time coming forward to get justice because their own reputations can be similarly violated in the process, making an already traumatic experience that much more brutal. The issues regarding the decline of journalism into an agenda-driven game where journalists no longer cared who they hurt could not be more timely. Toward the end of the novel, Petty says, "I have yet to meet a reporter who admitted, I (bleeped) up. We’re even worse than the people we go after, in that regard; we’re watching them, but there’s nobody watching us. It’s easier to blame dark external forces rather than oneself."