Then Came the Evening: A Novel

It is a rare novel that I steal extra time reading because I want to continue with it. see how it comes out and can identify in any way with the setting and life represented. This book filled that bill immediately. It may be a "man's" book, but this woman understood it. I now know a lot more about rural life in Idaho - it is similar to rural life elsewhere, especially areas of New England, but the author very skillfully made it Idaho and no where else in his descriptions. He brought out front the cruelty of prisons and what men get driven to violence and why. Yes, the story is tough, but this is what this kind of life he wrote about is like; not everyone lives the settled, bank account, scheduled, 'clean' life. As this is the author's first book, I can't wait for the second.

Great sense of place, the setting rang absolutely true. The story also felt painfully real-(I live in Idaho) I believed every word, and the writing was a joy to read. Thanks for sharing this great story-Sarah

This dark family drama is a riveting read I found hard to put down. The bleak landscape, so well-drawn, provides the perfect backdrop for the story of Bandy, Tracy, and Iona. Reading this book, I couldn't help but reflect on how if put me in mind of No Country for Old Men- it has that same deftly rendered cinematic feel to the background. I was surprised by how invested I felt in these characters, whose lives are far outside my realm of experience. I was sorry when the book ended, because despite that lack of personal connection, I was drawn into the world Hart created. I certainly hope to read more by this talented author in the future.

I orderd Brian Hart's THEN CAME THE EVENING based on a review I read in the newpaper. I didn't anticipate the fine tuned, masterfully crafted novel that I read. I read Hart's story in one 6-7 hours setting. The book is one frigging tage turner. I couldn't put it down until I finished it;. Hart's characters live out their violence and love on the pages. The settings are real places that I had visited in real time. For example, three or four years ago, I drove down the long incline is the eastern end of the Lolo trail. And I had driven by the spot where Bandy and Victor buried the murdered man, then flung the shovels into the vast openess above the tree tops. The charactes were not beauatiful people. They were not people I would like to be around. But as I read page after page, I choked up with their sorrow and death and uncompleted love. Long may Hart write. Long may I expereince Hart's tense, minimal stories.

Bandy, a young, hot headed Vietnam vet wages his personal war with himself, his loved ones and anyone else who happens by, some of them even come out of it alive though few are unscathed. Bandy's girlfriend finds out she's pregnant and knows she has to escape Bandy's almost nightly drinking, fighting and womanizing so she leaves with a quiet man who asks few questions. Bandy's actions on the fateful day she leaves land him in jail for a few decades. It's there he finds he has a son when the 18 year old stops by his prison. All these characters are seeking meaning and peace but none of them seem to accomplish much of either though none let go of their dreams of love and family and in a disjointed way they get as close to those dreams as they can. They keep running into their pasts while searching for a livable present. Hart's writing is lovely, atmospheric, evocative. He never goes for the easy answer while looking to get as close to truth as he can.