Hardy “Hardly” Reed isn’t particularly ambitious or motivated, but that doesn’t seem to faze the 21-year-old one bit. He spends his days hanging out with his friends, getting high, and works as a scarer at a run-down amusement park. Even though his brother chides him for making nothing of his life, Hardly doesn’t care. He loves having no pressure or obligations.
One day, while looking to defer payment on a traffic ticket, he sees two young children sitting by themselves on a bench. When he goes over to check on them and see if they’re okay, they seem almost catatonic, not acknowledging his presence. Then he notices identical injuries on both children, and when their mother approaches, she quickly gets the children away from Hardly’s inquiring gaze.
Faced with a situation like this, Hardly would usually walk away and not give this situation another thought. But for some reason, the children’s expressions haunt him, so he calls Child Protective Services and leaves a message about what he saw. And while that should be the end of it, he gets no response from CPS, and the more research he does, he becomes convinced that CPS won’t be of any help. He knows in his heart that the only person that can help these kids is him, despite the fact that he barely takes care of himself.
As Hardly tries to figure out exactly who is abusing the children and the best way he can help, his friends and family try to dissuade him from getting further involved. But for the first time in his life, Hardly has discovered something–and someone–to fight for. He may not be the best person for the task, but he’s determined not to let the children down, even when he discovers he has gotten himself entangled in a situation far beyond anything he imagined.
I first discovered Lou Berney when I found his amazing thriller, The Long and Faraway Gone, several years ago, shortly after seeing another author I loved naming Berney one of the best authors he had read. I’ve read all of Berney’s books, so I was tremendously excited about this one.
Once again, Berney tells an incredible story. While I’m always a little dubious about books when ordinary people suddenly become investigators, Hardly is the most unlikely of protagonists, and his single-minded focus seems to make sense the more we learn about him.
I was utterly captivated by Dark Ride. I loved the choices Berney made here, instead of taking the expected paths that I feel would have ruined the story. I’ll definitely be waiting for his next book.
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