Somebody’s Fool

Pulitzer Prize winner Russo’s (Empire Falls) final installment in the “North Bath Trilogy” (following Everybody’s Fool) takes place as the small Upstate New York town of North Bath is incorporated into neighboring Schuyler Springs. Police chief Doug Raymer closes the North Bath police department, while his longtime girlfriend, Cherise, is appointed to lead the new Schuyler Spring police force. When a body is discovered at the abandoned hotel in town, Cherise asks Raymer to consult. The mysterious body is only one event in a sea of daily drama, as the eccentric residents of North Bath struggle with poverty, broken marriages, fractured family relationships, and a long collective memory. Narrator Mark Bramhall supplies a measured, somewhat weary tone that conveys the difficulties of hard feelings, misunderstandings, and lost opportunities while also stressing the characters’ determination not to give up. Though the story is full of human failings, love, and loss, it is presented ponderously via the inner monologues of the central characters.