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Mare of Easttown

Personal and family connections complicate enforcement for small-town law officers, epitomized by lone Easttown detective Mare Sheehan. The murder mystery is secondary to the "sub-plots" involving Mare's winning shot in a basketball tournament and family conflicts. She's called Lady Hawk by the locals, harking back to her history and fame. She begrudgingly answers to the name, but soldiers on, hoping to make Easttown, the place she loves, a better place. 



Mare's star is falling as the failing search for two missing girls dogs her. She feels every slight of her abilities but trods on, day-by-day, in hopes of finding the girls. And then, another young girl is found dead.

No spoilers from me, but IMO, the murder is more an excuse and less an actual mystery to be solved so that Mare might find solace for the sad and horrible events of her life.

The great thing about a small town is that everyone knows everyone else. The horrible thing about a small town is that everyone knows everyone else and are likely related. All the monumental successes are replayed, but so are the failures.

Mare of Easttown succeeds at pulling back the curtain of small-town life and the subtext of just how destructive criminal activity is but fails to build to a satisfying "Chinatown" climax that makes a mystery/thriller a classic.


 


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