So Far Gone

Lucy Park, the city editor at the Spokesman-Review, does a round of her massively understaffed newsroom before clocking out. Known for her bursts of anger, which cause her to curse nearly every time she speaks, Lucy tries to contain her emotions for the sake of her job. She reminds herself that many of her reporters are underpaid, requiring them to take several jobs to meet the costs of living. One of Lucy’s fresh graduate reporters, Allison, indignantly tells her that she will be sending her story for review on deadline. Allison’s story, which revolves around a police shooting, makes Lucy fearful for her son, Kel, a teenage survivor of drug addiction. She also worries that as the newsroom continues to shrink, the newspaper will eventually be phased out. Lucy texts Kel to check in on him before leaving the newsroom. When she gets to the building lobby, she sees Rhys Kinnick, her ex-boyfriend, for the first time in years.

Rhys is dropped off by the abbey priest-deacon who attended to him, Reverend Brandon. Rhys tells Lucy about the men who attacked him and abducted his grandchildren. While Rhys filed a police report against Dean, the police expressed their skepticism over Rhys’s claims of guardianship. Rhys asks Lucy for help.

Rhys is embarrassed to remember that one of the first things he said to Lucy was a compliment on her appearance. The two met when they were both reporters, flirting over brief engagements disguised as informal consultations. They had sex for the first time after Rhys presented a paper at an investigative journalism conference, marking the beginning of their affair. While Rhys was already divorced from Celia, Lucy was still married to her ex-husband, Paul. After Paul discovered the affair, Celia expressed her disapproval of Rhys, calling him a homewrecker. Rhys tried to defend himself to his ex-wife, suggesting that Lucy’s marriage was already failing when the affair began. As Paul divorced Lucy, Rhys was fired from his job, causing him to experience depression and alcohol addiction. Soon after came the Thanksgiving incident with Shane.

Lucy drops Rhys off at an old bar so that she can bring dinner to Kel before talking with him. Rhys refrains from alcohol, so he falls back on what he calls overpriced soda water. He gets nostalgic thinking about how lively the bar used to be when he was still a reporter. When Lucy returns to him, Rhys tries to find out how her children are, but Lucy, whose reputation was damaged by their affair, doesn’t want to engage in small talk. Rhys apologizes for exacerbating the conditions that led to her divorce. His sense of humor leads her to change her mind about not wanting to talk with him. 

Instead of talking about family, Lucy and Rhys talk politics. Rhys connects the popularization of radical right politics to Dean Burris, allowing Lucy to look up newspaper clips about him on her phone. Rhys learns that Dean attempted to run for Stevens County Commissioner in 2022. He campaigned on a far-right platform that sought to assert the county’s sovereignty from federal and state jurisdiction, but lost in the primaries. Rhys tells Lucy about the motivations behind his self-exile and what he has been up to in the years since their last encounter. He doesn’t tell her that he was trying to write a new book on philosophy and ethics through the lens of naturalism called The Atlas of Wisdom, as he fears that Lucy will mock him for it. Lucy reflects on the changes she sees in Rhys, whom she used to admire as a hero among reporters. Now she questions what Rhys plans to do once he recovers his grandchildren, seeing as his custody suit will have little legal grounds in Bethany’s absence. Rhys asserts that he needs to try, though he cannot answer Lucy when she asks what he means by “try.”

Rhys sleeps on Lucy’s couch that night. When he wakes up the next morning, he is greeted by Lucy’s son, Kelvin “Kel” Park-Davis, who recognizes him as the man with whom Lucy had an affair. Like Reverend Brandon, Kel identifies Rhys’s zygomatic arch dent as a common fighting injury. Lucy tells Rhys that she is enlisting the help of a retired cop to assist in recovering Rhys’s grandchildren. She reluctantly shares that she used to date this cop, prompting Kel to realize that the man she is referring to is none other than “Crazy Ass” Chuck Littlefield. Lucy defends Chuck as a good cop.

Chuck Littlefield used to work in Major Crimes as a homicide detective. He frequently leaked information about his cases to the press, which was one of the reasons his bosses hated him. The other reason they hated Chuck was his overzealousness, requesting the use of expensive new forensic tools to solve cold cases. When Chuck insulted the police chief in the newspaper, he was punished with reassignment to Property Crimes, where he decided to weaponize his work ethic to vindicate himself. He outperformed every property crime detective to such a degree that he set new department records for solved cases. While this briefly restored his sense of purpose, Chuck’s eventual retirement caused him to experience severe depression and suicidal ideation. To manage his depression, Chuck started skiing and playing at the casino. A gambling addiction caused him to return to work as a private investigator working for law firms.

Lucy was the reporter on the story in which Chuck criticized the police chief. She and Chuck reconnected during the COVID-19 pandemic and started dating, though the tenor of their relationship was combative since both thrived on arguing and teasing. On occasion, their hard edges caused them to say hurtful things and neglect each other’s feelings. Two years into their relationship, Lucy broke things off with Chuck when he suggested that Lucy should throw Kel out of the house so that he could learn to be more independent and make productive use of his time.

Soon after, Chuck started dating again but found that he couldn’t move on from Lucy. He obsessively craved her approval, which helped to distract him from his low self-esteem in retirement. This made it easy for him to accept her request when she asked if he could help in recovering Rhys’s grandchildren, especially since they would be rescuing them from the Army of the Lord, a group Chuck dislikes.

Chuck meets Lucy and Rhys at a coffee shop. After Rhys catches Chuck up on the events leading to his grandchildren’s abduction, Chuck posits that they will need to locate Bethany to secure custody of the children. Without it, nothing will stop Shane from marrying Leah off to David Jr. He cautions Rhys about the possibility of violence, but Rhys quotes Epictetus to indicate that he is willing to accept this risk. Rhys later confides in Lucy that he is unsure of Chuck’s mental health. Lucy admits that Chuck tends to get carried away, but she trusts that Rhys will know how to control him.

Chuck and Rhys drive around in Chuck’s pickup truck. Chuck calls his law firm colleagues and asks them to retrieve records for Bethany, Shane, Anna, and Dean. He then asks Rhys about his past relationship with Lucy. Rhys reluctantly admits to the scandal their affair caused, though he blames the erratic state of his life at the time for his behavior. This leads into a discussion of the motivations behind his self-exile. Chuck compares Rhys’s solitary life in the woods to his retirement, agreeing when Rhys says he felt like he was part of an extinct species. When Rhys discusses his grandchildren’s arrival at his house, Chuck sympathizes with his resolve to do something about his absence from their lives.

Chuck’s law firm contacts direct them to Shane and Bethany’s registered address, an apartment complex. They reach out to Anna, who reveals that she had innocently told Dean where Rhys’s grandchildren would be. Anna recalls that the last time she had seen Bethany was shortly before her disappearance. Bethany did not suggest that she was going anywhere, though she had spoken in the past about returning to Grants Pass after reconnecting with her ex-boyfriend in Portland. Kinnick realizes she is referring to Doug (whom he calls “Sluggish Doug”), Leah’s father.

Chuck asks about Bethany’s emotional health. Anna clarifies that while Bethany thinks Shane is a good person, he was getting too devoted to his church for Bethany’s comfort. She experienced frequent panic attacks, a detail that stings Rhys. Her intent to leave Shane is really meant to distance her children from his church. Bethany did not take the family pickup to wherever she was going, suggesting that she either took public transit or that someone picked her up. Chuck receives information on Dean and locates him at the Rampart, which is in Idaho. He suggests reaching out to the local sheriff to confront the Army of the Lord.

Chuck and Rhys drive for two hours to reach the office of Sheriff Glen Campbell. After making some small talk over their shared acquaintances, Chuck tells Campbell about Rhys’s situation. Campbell is reluctant to get involved, calling it an issue for family court. He argues that Rhys has no evidence that the Army of the Lord is putting his grandchildren in any urgent danger, which would make it difficult to contest any claim that Shane’s representatives might make. Gradually, Campbell suggests that he is sympathetic to the Army of the Lord because they are his constituents.

When they return to the pickup, Chuck asks Rhys if he has any experience using guns. The novel flashes back to the start of Rhys’s self-exile in early 2017. At the end of his first day in the house, Rhys realizes that the attic is infested with raccoons. The raccoons get into his groceries, making it necessary for him to dispatch them. His early attempts to scare them away are unsuccessful.

Rhys considers his family history and his ancestors’ shifting attitudes towards the Stevens County property. Rhys’s grandfather, Emrys, acquired the land to emulate the ranching tradition of his ancestors in the British Highlands. Rhys’s father, Leonard, despised the ranch and would have laughed at Rhys’s attempts to settle there. When his family left him behind to resettle in Tacoma, Emrys focused his energies on making life in isolation sustainable. Leonard once took Rhys to visit Emrys, allowing Rhys to see his father’s resentment for his grandfather’s land firsthand. Leonard continued to hold the land after Emrys’ death, despite his assertion that the land was worthless. At the time of Rhys’s self-exile, the Kinnick property was far less remote than it had been in Emrys’s time. As Rhys weighs how to deal with his raccoon problem, he worries that scaring the animals away may contribute to the continued degradation of the land. He reasons that it will be necessary to procure a gun to prevent the raccoons from infesting his house until he can determine how to prevent their intrusion.

The novel returns to the present. Rhys is shocked by Chuck’s insistence on arming him. He explains that he has only ever used an air rifle to deal with the raccoon infestation. Chuck reassures him that using a handgun isn’t very different. He needs Rhys to support him in case violence erupts. When Rhys isn’t reassured, Chuck teaches him how to handle the gun. Rhys is still reluctant, so Chuck reminds him of the urgency of his grandchildren’s situation. Chuck criticizes liberals like Rhys and Lucy for failing to understand the purpose of guns as a form of self-defense. Once Rhys learns how to use the gun, he feels a sense of power that he can harness his negative emotions into. Chuck tells Rhys to aim for the hip so that he can neutralize his opponent in case they are wearing body armor. The last tip he gives is to imagine his opponents are raccoons.

The road to the Rampart has many warning signs, urging trespassers and left-leaning individuals to turn away. Chuck and Rhys proceed anyway. Chuck is especially excited as the approach reminds him of his days as a police officer on patrol. He remembers one occasion when he broke up a party at an abandoned lot and found a child with deafness at the scene. When the child was turned over to protective services, the child embraced him, causing Chuck to cry afterwards.

Chuck and Rhys enter the Rampart. Chuck tells Rhys to wait in the truck while he goes to investigate the premises. He is reading the chapel signs that warn the militia to protect the compound from the military when a woman tells him that Dean left earlier to conduct training exercises. Asher and Leah emerge from the chapel, drawing Rhys out of the truck. The group is met by Pastor David Gallen, who comes from the main house to greet them. When Chuck explains the situation to Gallen, Gallen tries to get Rhys and Chuck to discuss the matter further over tea. Chuck refuses, realizing that Gallen is trying to buy time for Shane to return to the Rampart.

The group hears the sound of someone driving up to the rampart in an ATV. Chuck orders Rhys to escape with the children in the truck. Chuck stays behind to fend off the militia. As they drive away, Rhys and his grandchildren hear several gunshots. Asher supposes it must be the militia conducting their target practice training. Rhys speeds up, thinking frantically about where he can take the children. Asher wonders if he might have a chance to go back so that he can sign up for a youth chess tournament. Rhys reassures him that he will play chess with him to help him improve his skills. Leah alerts Rhys to the fact that Chuck’s cellphone, which has been left behind in the truck, is ringing. Rhys takes a call from Lucy and reports their whereabouts. Lucy tells them that Chuck is being brought to the hospital by helicopter.