Lou Berney Interview - Dark Ride

Dark and Stormy Book Club

Dark Ride
by Lou Berney
9/23/23 William Morrow
This week we visited with an old friend, Lou Berney, about his new book “Dark Ride.:
From Lou Berney, the acclaimed, multi award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway
Gone, comes a Dark Ride
Sometimes the person you least expect is just the hero you need
Twenty-one-year-old Hardy “Hardly” Reed—good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned—is drifting through life.
A minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions.
Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if
they’re okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids.
He reports the incident to Child Protective Service.
That should be the end of it. After all, Hardly's not even good at looking out for himself so the last thing he
wants to do is look out for anyone else. But he's haunted by the two kids, his heart breaking for them. And the
more research he does the less he trusts that Child Protective Services —understaffed and overworked—will
do anything about it.
That leaves...Hardly. He is probably the last person you’d ever want to count on. But those two kids have
nobody else but him. Hardly has to do what's right and help them.
For the first time in his life, Hardly decides to fight for something. This might be the one point in his entire life,
he realizes, that is the entire point of his life. He will help those kids.
At first, trying to gather evidence that will force the proper authorities to intervene, Hardly is a total disaster.
Gradually, with assistance from unexpected allies, he develops investigative skills and discovers he’s smarter
and more capable than he ever imagined.
But Hardly also discovers that the situation is more dangerous than he ever expected. The abusive father who
has been hurting these children isn’t just a lawyer—he also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. The mother
claims she wants to escape with the kids—but Hardly isn't sure he can trust her.
Faced with a different version of himself than he has ever known, Hardly refuses to give up. But his
commitment to saving these kids from further harm might end up getting the kids, and Hardly himself, killed.
TRIVIA
Last week's question was:
Isaac Asminov was a prolific author but he had one serious phobia.. What was it?
a. Fear of the number 13
b. Fear of Heights
c. Fear of Closed spaces
d. Fear of flying
The answer is d. Fear of Flying.. Asimov was afraid of flying, doing so only twice: once in the course of
his work at the Naval Air Experimental Station and once returning home from Oahu In 1946. Consequently, he
seldom traveled great distances. This phobia influenced several of his fiction works, such as the Wendell Urth
mystery stories and the Robot novels featuring Elijah Baley. In his later years, Asimov found enjoyment
traveling on cruise ships, beginning in 1972 when he viewed the Appollo 11 launch from a cruise ship. On
several cruises, he was part of the entertainment program, giving science-themed talks aboard ships such as
the Queen Elizabeth 2. He sailed to England in June 1974 on the SS France for a trip mostly devoted to
lectures in London and Birmingham, though he also found time to visit Stonehenge.
This week's question is:
Mystery author Charlotte MacLeod had a family connection to which criminal
a. Whitey Bulger
b. John Gotti
c. Al Capone
d. Albert Anastasia