This audio book was different than many that I have read. It really made me feel like I wanted to stop the main character from doing things that she knew she shouldn't do. Every time I thought the main character, Lynette had pushed her luck too far she did something else. The story grabbed me and made me want to know how it ended. I found the characters to be real and their situation similar to people I have heard about. The book is compelling and makes you want to help people that have issues with drugs and finding a decent job. I really liked Lynette although she was very flawed and so human. She tries her best to get her life back on track but has so many obstacles many others would have given up but not her. Her humanity shines through when she is helping her disabled brother and you can see how hard she is trying to change their lives for the better.

The narrator for this book was great. Her voice fit the character perfectly and it made me want to keep listening. It is important to like the voice and be able to picture the character from both the voice and the description. This voice seemed to be made for this person--her reactions, her temperament fit so well with the voice. It was a good match. I really liked the book and recommend it.
The only negative comment is that the ending is so abrupt. There is not anything on the file after the end and I waited to make sure it was over so there was a lot of dead air. I am hoping their will be a second book and that it is more uplifting with the characters success in finding a better life. I would read that.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It is well written and the characters are described well. The narrator did a good job reading this book. This audiobook will be in stores on April 6th for $20.99 (USD). This has mental health representation. TRIGGER WARNING Drug Abuse. This book is about a 3 star book to me. I would recommend it though.

Lynette is trying her best to keep her head above water, not easy when she's got such a checkered past. But in trying to purchase the rental she occupies with her mother and developmentally challenged brother, she's taken to scraping every penny in whatever means she can only to find out her mother has other plans. Lynette then experiences an almost unbelievable Walpurgisnacht of events (are there really so many hours in the day) during which she'll spend a lot of time remembering things she'd thought she'd put behind her. That is the basic outline of this book by Willy Vlautin who has a distinct talent for writing about those on the fringes, and in the process, shows the effects of gentrification on a city like Portland, Oregon, on those who may find themselves losing their way of life. Well written if a little fantastic, but then, I believe Vlautin was making a point in which he succeeded.

Desperation seeps through the words of Vlautin’s work. Like so many growing urban areas, Portland Oregon’s working class is being forced out by gentrification. I felt like in a Tennessee Williams story not set in the south. Lynette, is trying to attend community college, care for her disabled older brother and pay the rent on their falling down house. Her mother seems to have given up and Lynette finds herself caught in a position where she can make the down payment on their and makes some either stupid or courageous decisions on how to get the money. And as the title indicates, this is not a happy story. At the end, the reader is left to decide what will happen to Lynette. Do you see her glass as half empty or half full? I listened to the audiobook narrated by Christine Lakin and highly recommend it, but I suggestion you choose a time when you can dedicate to listening to the book. Once started, the mental picture created by the narration and the author’s descriptions will make it really hard to put down.

Get ready for some heavy action. The story revolves around Lynnette, a 30 year old woman living with her mother and. developmentally disabled brother. The story sails along quickly with the events of 2 days of struggle along with flashbacks to better understand why Lynnette is fighting so hard to care for her brother and save to buy the home they currently rent.

Lynnette has saved up much of the money to purchase the house. How she does this is much of the story but we also see the struggle with the men in her life, none of which are too savory.. The fear, pain, and distress Lynnette endures is hard to read at times as is the relationship with her mother, who clearly has different agenda. In her quest to provide her mother and brother security, Lynnette put herself in great risk.

Very well written, this book will take you for a ride through what it's like to be poor, female, and wanting more in a world not always willing to give.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was completely drawn in by the narrator and the suspense of the story but due to its dark path the main character sometimes chooses I question whether or not it will have broad appeal, even though I did appreciate her resilience.

This was refreshingly gritty and quietly devastating. I immediately began to root for our main character as soon as I understood her motivation - finding security and peace for her family, particularly Kenny, her developmentally disabled brother. She is flawed and it works.
The audiobook was really well done, and the narrator did an amazing job of differentiating between characters.

This contemporary novel was pretty depressing and bleak, though I appreciate the honesty, as it did come off as realistic to the plight of this desperate young woman. At it's core, this book seemed to be exploring what happens when the "American Dream" doesn't happen, and the daily struggle of a person whose been dealt many hard blows in life; caring for a disabled family member, scraping to make ends meet when the cost of living keeps rising, poverty, depressing and the effects of gentrification. A tough and emotional read.

Excellent novel that demonstrates how impossible it is for a huge segment of the population to achieve and secure The American Dream. As I read this dark and depressing novel, I couldn’t help thinking how much better our world could be if only Universal Health Care were available. The amount of human suffering that could be eliminated would be incalculable. Vlautin’s protagonist Lynette is working multiple jobs to keep her disabled brother, mother & herself in a home of their own. Like a Shakespearean tragedy, Lynette’s barely contained anger threatens to derail her fragile mental health and in her desperation she becomes caught up in a series of events that could cost her life.
Quick read.

Almost put this book down. At first I found it depressing especially while living in lockdown during this pandemic. What the author really gets across is how depression can rule a person’s life and how it can cause a feeling of being totally out of control. How so helpless one can feel and the hopelessness that can lead to suicide rather than seeking help.

The other part of this story explains the desperation that poverty brings. The lengths people go to get out of that poverty, to protect the ones they love. And, that sometimes love is very hard. I would like to say the ending was uplifting but it left just enough doubt in my mind about whether it could be a happy ending.

My review just got eaten but this one was so good!! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this early copy in exchange for a review.

This is not a happy story and it doesn’t get tied up in a bow, but it’s definitely a real story.

Really fabulous book! It's part suspenseful action and part deep character study, with some interesting social commentary added to the mix. Lynette is a rather troubled person and does some very troubling--and dangerous--things, but through it all she's never unsympathetic and I found myself rooting for her, no matter what she was doing. Her backstory and relationship with her mother, another well drawn character, make Lynette's actions and feelings understandable. I had the pleasure of consuming this book in the audio format. If you get a chance to listen to it, I highly recommend it! The narrator, actress Christine Lakin, was absolutely first-rate. All characters were done well, but the sections of dialog between Lynette and her mother are absolutely masterful; it feels like listening to a play. Many thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC of this fascinating book.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Okay, so, The Night Always Comes definitely flew by for me. Not only did I get the chance to dive into the wonderful audiobook but the characters and the storyline were just addicting (to me). In it, you will meet Lynette. She is almost in her 30's and is trying everything she can in order to take care of herself and her family. Not sure how she is still standing after working numerous jobs but give this girl a dang medal.

Hot damn.

Other than that, this book was so dark in some parts. It also hurt my heart in others. Lynette constantly had to push herself to prove others wrong. She was a very determined character and I loved her so much for that. She wanted to own a home and she was going to prove her mother wrong. Constantly underestimated but hungry, oh so hungry, for the challenge.

Now even though I flew threw this book, I will admit some things were kind of annoying. For example, the repetitiveness throughout the book but in some cases I could see why it happened. While for others I was just like - I get it. We get it. Move on.

In the end, this book was so hard to put down (or pause) and I can't wait for it to actually come out so I can buy it.

Excellent writing and wonderful development of characters, however be warned - this novel is a powerful glimpse into a woman who has had a difficult life and issues with mental illness. If you like being immersed into the day of a bleak life of someone who could have used a helping hand, then go for it. I read it because librarians and booksellers have been raving about it.

I saw Willy Vlautin being interviewed, and I know the team at Harper Collins is really high on his books, so I finally got around to reading one of his books. I am glad that I did. Willy Vlautin is an excellent writer, and he writes this time about a difficult and depressing situation for his main character. There was a lot of depth and realism to his characters, and my heart ached for Lynette's situation. I was frustrated by the bad choices she made but could understand how she made them. The book makes for an interesting study. As Lynette was trying to better herself and her situation, she couldn't quite break free of her old bad tendencies, She had obstacles that were difficult to overcome, but this pointed out the additional challenges of someone who is on the edge and has had mental issues and a bad situation in life. The struggles are often greater for so many who are disenfranchised. I highly recommend this book

Note: This review will be published on my book blog and Goodreads closer to publication date.

“One thing in my line of work that you find out is that most people act like they have more than they really do, that they’re better off than they really are. It’s always the same kind of people too. I’ve been doing this for over 25 years and it never changes. Rednecks and gangsters want to be rich but most of them aren’t rich. Rednecks with their trucks and gangsters with their SUVs and Cadillacs. And on the other side are the full-of-shit people trying to act white collar rich by driving BMWs and Mercedes and Audis.”

“I made a lot of mistakes and got greedy” so says 30-year-old Lynette. Lynette’s conclusion about her behaviour comes after a series of bad decisions taken over the course of two days. This dark bleak tale weaves together a complex tapestry of social and personal ills: poverty, gentrification, prostitution, burglary, assault, drug sales, bitter recriminations and the betrayal of friends and family. Willy Vlautin’s The Night Always Comes is a crime novel, but it’s also an examination of American life: those who work, living paycheck-to-paycheck–those who work multiple jobs to hobble together enough to survive; those who tread water but who will sink with just one financial hurdle that could send them out onto the street.

Lynette driving an old banger, holds two jobs (bakery, bar) and in the few hours left in the day, she’s also a prostitute. She lives in a rented house in Portland with her bitter chain-smoking, heavy-drinking mother and her developmentally disabled brother, Kenny–a child in a man’s body. Lynette’s father left years ago and has a brand new family. When the novel opens, Lynette has saved about 80,000 as a downpayment for the house her mother currently rents. The owner, who hasn’t fixed a thing in years, is giving them a ‘deal,’ and with massive gentrification changing the face of Portland, Lynette sees buying the house as an opportunity for stabilization. If they don’t buy, they will have to move which inevitably means a huge rent increase. Lynette’s credit sucks and so the plan is that her mother will get the loan.

As the sale moves closer, Lynette’s mother brings home a brand new car, bought on credit of course, and it’s this purchase that effectively sabotages the plan to buy the house. Unwilling to give up her plan to buy the house, and desperate to get more money, Lynette heads out into the night to collect an old debt from a fellow escort. From here, it’s all downhill as Lynette spirals from one bad decision to another, reconnecting with her past to solve her present problems. At first, author Willy Vlautin only reveals Lynette’s ambitions and she appears to be the hard-working voice of reason, the one person willing to anchor herself to her mother and brother and pull them out of poverty. Gradually, however, Lynette’s troubled past and her irrevocably damaged relationship with her mother is revealed. There’s a dark side to Lynette, and when she hits up her Johns for cash, it’s interesting that she treats the one who actually gives her money the worst. As Lynette sallies on into the night trying to gather together as much money as she can, she sinks into male-dominated, violent, predatory Lord of the Flies territory.

When the novel began with its descriptions of Lynette’s car starting after multiple tries, and Kenny being left in Lynette’s car while she works, all the misery felt a little overdone. But Lynette’s past (and present) float to the surface and her tired, damaged victimhood recedes, to reveal a powerful novel of greed, getting ahead and the twisted reality of the American Dream. There’s an underlying theme about money–how we fight to get it, but how we don’t understand its power, and as a result, how money runs people, not the other way around. “Why does it matter to feel bad about anything? Isn’t that the American Dream? Fuck over whoever is in your way and get what you want.” And this is the mantra for nearly all the characters in the book. Take or be taken. All relationships carry debt: debts to be repaid

It’s all fancy buildings and skinny people who look like they’re in magazines. I don’t know where they all come from, but they sure are coming, and then all you do is cross another street and there’s homeless people camping everywhere. They’re coming too. You can’t drive around Portland without seeing a hundred tents. People living in tents. Are they all on drugs? Are there that many people who are crazy and on drugs. I always used to ask myself, ‘why would a man in his twenties want to live on the street when he could work?’ I mean, my god, what’s happening? For a long time I didn’t understand it. Why? Why would they live that way? It seems so awful, so miserable, but you know now I think I’m starting to understand. The answer is .. why not? Why should they bust their asses all day when they know no matter what they do, they’ll never get ahead. And why should they pay 300,000 for a falling down shack when they don’t have to. And when it starts raining and getting cold and they get sick, well they’ll be the first ones to march up to any hospital and get taken in. Me? I have to pay for my shitty health insurance and all the goddamn copays and I have to pay out the nose for anything that’s not covered. And there’s a lot of things not covered. And then some homeless creep who lives in a tent just goes to the hospital and gets everything for free. Politicians get healthcare for free and bums do too. But of course not us. How does that make sense? How does that make you want to get out of bed in the morning and go to work?

At the bar where she works, Lynette hands out free drinks, her co-workers hand out free drinks and it never occurs to them to wonder who is paying for all that free booze. Its currency (favours, freebies for friends) is all taken for granted. But then again, there’s so much resentment towards employers, that it’s justified. But other things are currency in the novel too–sex, relationships, power and violence. These are all currencies used to get ahead–to get what various characters want. In one part of the novel, my favourite part, Lynette goes to visit a man who repossesses cars, and he delivers an amazing soliloquy on the stupidity of people who, refusing to be content with what they have, seek credit, larger mortgages, bigger homes, as they try to move up in American society only to lose everything. Rodney has seen it all and knows that just because you drive around in a fancy car or live in fancy house doesn’t mean that you have two nickels to rub together. From his viewpoint, you can’t judge a person’s financial health from the trappings of wealth. Then there’s Lynette’s mother, a woman who’s simply worn out by life and the emotional cost of taking care of a developmentally disabled child: she sees that the struggle to keep afloat or get ahead is pointless: “No one wants to hire a worn-out, middle-aged fatso.”

Thing is Lynette, I’m getting mean. Not angry like you, but just mean and bitter. And on the TV all these rich sons of bitches they just talk bullshit and take whatever they want. They take and take and then when they get themselves in a pickle, we bail them out, so why would they care about anything but themselves. The politicians don’t give a shit times a thousand, all they want to do is stay elected and when they get reelected, they still don’t get anything done. They don’t seem to want to help anybody and they have no backbone. They just argue and blame and take money and get great healthcare while they do it. Those cocksuckers get free healthcare and we don’t. They don’t even care about our health. That says a lot doesn’t it. So why vote? I’m serious, why? Because they don’t do anything. They don’t help and if they don’t help then what’s the point of any of them? She looked at Lynette and took another drink.

Audio review copy. (punctuation of speeches may not be perfect)

This book is a realistic and often depressing look at a few days in the life of Lynette, a young woman trying to make a better life for herself and her family despite the challenges she seems to face every day. Lynette has struggled with mental illness and made some poor choices as a teenager, but has been working hard to save money towards the purchase of a home with the help of her mother. When her manipulative mother indicates that she might have other plans, Lynette’s frantic attempts to hang onto this one chance for stability send her life spiraling out of control. The narrator did an excellent job bringing Vlautin’s novel to life. Your heart will break as you hear the details of Lynette’s life leading up to the desperate position she finds herself in. If you are a fan of Bryn Greenwood’s books, definitely check this one out. Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook.

This is a great book about someone who feels that have to make all the wrong choices to get to the right place. I enjoyed listening to this on audiobook. The narrator did a great job of making me feel as though I was watching a movie. I will recommend this book to others.

Lynette, a young woman who lives with her mother and disabled older brother who needs constant watching, wants to buy the house they’ve lived in for the past 15 years. The house has been going into disrepair, but Lynette has plans once they buy the place. On the cusp of signing the papers Lynette’s mom says she doesn’t want to live there the rest of her life, in fact would rather not live with Lynette.

A crazy night ensues where Lynette goes around getting as much cash as she can. This part takes up most of the book and it is a wild ride!

The book pulls you into the story and you can’t wait to find out what happens next. There were some long conversations between Lynette and another character: her mom, an ex-boyfriend, etc. The background of the story unfolds in these conversations. I like the way that was done. The driving force behind the book: high housing prices and people barely scraping by, living on the edge.

I listened to the audiobook version of the book. The narrator was excellent, I would rate as 5 stars. She managed different character voices distinctly and well, so you always knew which character was speaking.

Set over two days and two nights Willy Vlautin takes us on an intense journey through Portland, OR. Lynette, just thirty, has been working several jobs over the last three years to save for the down payment of the house she was going to by with her Mom as a co-signer. When her Mom changes her mind at the last minute Lynette spends that night collecting money she is owed from several people and meets many characters along the way. Some who've done well in the economy and some who have been left behind..
This novel is dark and atmospheric, I felt like I was traveling on this dark rainy night with Lynette around Portland. Vlautin's characters are so well written and are neither good nor bad. He creates whole people. I was rooting for Lynette the whole time, even after learning she's not a perfect person and has struggled with depression and took it out on other people. Man did I want her win in the end. Her mother though, I couldn't stand her. She was awful, but in true Vlautin form, she too is a fully developed character that is neither all good or all bad., but I still didn't like her. Having lived in Portland, OR for the past 21 years I have seen all the changes that Vlautin refers to in this novel. The gentrification and rapidly changing home market in Portland. I loved that I knew all the streets and areas of Portland that he described. This novel asked is the American Dream even within reach for many these days, and should owning a home really be the American Dream anymore, if so many can't afford it. These characters have stuck with me and I highly recommend it.

I received an audiobook galley of this book from netgalley and Harper Audio. My opinions are my own.