\u201cWhat happens when the people you’ve always known turn out to be monsters, what do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?\u201d<\/p>\n
David Joy\u2019s Those We Thought We Knew<\/em> follows a young Black artist from Atlanta named Toya who returns to her home in the Appalachian Mountains in order to trace her history and unveil the systemic bigotry present even in the most unexpected people.<\/p>\n Through alternating perspectives throughout the novel, the reader gets to know, and ultimately trust, the inhabitants of Sylva, North Carolina. Some of the more significant characters include Sheriff John Coggins, the upstanding yet proud pillar of law enforcement and long-time friend of Toya\u2019s grandfather; detective Leah Green, who appears later in the novel to solve one of its tragic crimes; and my personal favorite, Vess, Toya\u2019s anxiously devoted grandmother. The reader slowly learns about the story\u2019s events through the independent knowledge and experiences of each character. However, we additionally get to feel sympathetic toward or even betrayed by some of them in a way that mirrors how the characters feel about one another.<\/p>\n The novel\u2019s Southern mountainous setting is brimful with Confederate monuments, corrupted government officials, and hatred-driven cults many would expect to accompany a small, rural community in the South. Whether the reader has been a part of these communities themselves, or identifies with Toya\u2019s perspective on the community as an outsider, Joy allows everyone to be enveloped in the dynamics of this town. I got a clear mental image of each character while reading\u2014their appearance, their voice, and their personality\u2014as if I know them myself.<\/p>\n The conversations regarding racism between the characters are one of the novel\u2019s most prevalent elements. The subject matter of this dialogue felt very pertinent to me, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. These conversations certainly include the same stereotypical phrases we\u2019d expect to hear (from every side), but never quite feel trite. These overt conversations lay the foundation for the novel\u2019s later events, conflicts, and mysteries, as the reader can still hear the echoes of each character\u2019s words in their heads as new twists and turns are uncovered. Even weeks after having finished this novel, I still hear Joy\u2019s words echoing in my own head.<\/p>\n Those We Thought We Knew<\/em> balances a suspenseful mystery with a fast-paced, action-packed crime story. Even after the appropriately jarring revelation at its midpoint, the novel captivated me in a way that is often difficult to find in slow-burn mysteries. It\u2019s certainly a \u201ccan\u2019t put it down\u201d kind of book, but has enough thought-provoking substance that made me want to slow down, re-read, and reference back to clues I\u2019d missed. Joy\u2019s ability to invoke understanding for all of his primary characters makes for an engaging read, no matter what perspective or character you may find yourself enjoying or aligning with most.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly compelling to read a crime novel that is so unequivocally timely to our modern political sphere. As my first experience with David Joy\u2019s novels, I was thankful for my investment in Those We Thought We Knew<\/em> and plan to read his future works. I hope Joy\u2019s book helps open up an increasingly more open-minded, diverse space within the genre of Southern noir.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rating: 4 of 5 stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat happens when the people you’ve always known turn out to be monsters, what do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?\u201d David Joy\u2019s Those We Thought We Knew follows a young Black artist from Atlanta named Toya who returns to her home in the Appalachian Mountains in order to trace her history … Continue reading David Joy, Those We Thought We Knew (2023)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4973,"featured_media":232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[26,41,30,11],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-southern-crime","category-spring-24","tag-crime","tag-david-joy","tag-mystery","tag-thriller"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2426\/2024\/04\/9780593741238-e1714066591208.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4973"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}