The Longest Night

 

The Longest Night by Andria Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book solely for the location it was set in: Idaho Falls, ID. Growing up in Boise, ID, I was convinced that nothing much happened of note in ID and so I'm drawn to evidence that states otherwise. The Longest Night tells about the nuclear reactors located outside of Idaho Falls, site of the INL now. Apparently there was an explosion in one of the reactors in the 1961 and was the deadliest (immediately) of all of American nuclear disasters. Weirdly, I never learned about this despite growing up in Idaho! What was slightly disappointing is that Williams took that real event and created (a mostly interesting) story that largely fictionalizes what actually happened. (She even calls the reactor something different--(CR-1 instead of SL-1) so just by reading the book, I still wouldn't have known what really happened. The novel is more of an exploration of trust and fidelity in marriage, with some of those themes of integrity carried through to the various workers at the site. It is an interesting airplane read, but wished it adhered more to real history since it's based on real events.

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