There is something about the title of Venita Blackburn’s first novel, not to mention the cover, that points to a lurid tale, perhaps something noir. But the darkness and mystery in DEAD IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA are interior and more intimately psychological. It is the story of a woman, Coral Brown, in the depths of shock and grief upon discovering her brother’s body. The week that follows has her making the choice to keep Jay’s death a secret, even from those who love him as much as she does, as she wrestles with her memories and her feelings of loss.

"Blackburn controls a diversity of perspectives that unite to tell a heartbreaking story. Strange, emotional and imaginative, this is a don’t-miss book."

Coral is a writer with a loyal fanbase for her dystopian novel, Wildfire. She is close with her brother and adores his adult daughter, Khadija. But these relationships do little to assuage her loneliness. She spends her time at author events and conventions scrolling through online hookup sites and remembering past loves and lovers. When she finds out that Jay has died by suicide, this loneliness envelops her. She takes Jay’s phone from his apartment and for the next week poses as him, texting friends and family as if he is still alive. She does this even to Khadija, who, of course, begins to suspect that something is wrong with her father.

Over the course of the week, Coral’s already simmering anxiety grows as it couples with grief and the new pain brought about by Jay’s death. Blackburn describes this in striking and inventive narrative ways. An emotional chorus, a “we,” tells the tale that Coral cannot. “Coral wrote us into existence,” the voices tell the reader, “we are students of her time.” This collective narrator becomes the “Clinic for Telling Lies to Avoid Pending Death,” the “Clinic for Accidentally Killing the Person You Only Meant to Seduce,” the “Clinic for Dying While Willfully Participating in a Poorly Thought-Out Cultural Trend and Becoming a Martyr for Revolution,” and the “Clinic for Outrageous Disguises That Cloak All Evidence of Fragility, Loneliness, and Terror.”

They relive Coral and Jay’s childhood, the fraught relationship with Khadija’s mother, and the joys of Coral spending time with Jay and Khadija, as well as the hardships. With each text that Coral sends on Jay’s phone, she descends deeper into falsehoods but also into a reluctant examination of the complexities of her own life and that of her brother.

Coral must share the news of Jay’s death but seems unable to do so. She continues to text as if he is still alive for days until it becomes impossible to avoid the truth any longer.

DEAD IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA is a singular work. Blackburn’s writing is artful and her storytelling sophisticated. Coral’s pain and sorrow throw her into crisis, which pushes her mental health and creativity to places that are dangerous for her yet compelling for readers. With excerpts from Coral’s own novel and fan fiction throughout, Blackburn controls a diversity of perspectives that unite to tell a heartbreaking story. Strange, emotional and imaginative, this is a don’t-miss book.