A former rock star returns to his struggling Adirondack hometown, stirring up old friendships, buried secrets, and the ripple effects of the choices that shaped their lives.

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Hidden behind the rushing water of a waterfall on Stone Mountain in the Adirondacks, ten year olds Curt and Tyler pinkie promise to be best friends forever. Three decades later, Curt is the police chief of their run-down, forgotten town. And Tyler, now a rock star, is back in Stone Mountain for the first time in eighteen years after leaving town without saying goodbye to a single soul.

Stone Mountain has a tight grip on its hard scrabble residents, or maybe they just have nowhere else to go. Tyler’s the only one who got out. His return ripples through the lives of both those who stayed and those who came after him, especially Curt, Curt’s wife Freddi, and Deb, a young local police officer.

As the old friends reconnect, they reflect on their last teenage summer together, the paths they might have taken, and the hold that Stone Mountain has on them. None of the characters are living in a way they can sustain. Relationships are strained, secrets simmer beneath the surface, and corruption and opioids are ever present. Under the Falls explores whether longstanding bonds and shared history are enough to get them through.

In the acknowledgments, Richard Russo states that Under the Falls started life as a TV pilot script but was lost to the writer’s strike. I think it would make a wonderful limited series. The setting and small town characters are vivid and the story does seem a bit made for TV. As a novel, it was okay. I kept reading it because Richard Russo’s writing is very compelling, but I wanted more emotional depth from it. It would be a good choice for readers who enjoy small-town dramas and character-driven stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC. All opinions are my own.