Story for the Week
People of a certain age may have owned a Y2K Bug plush toy. Not saying I am of a certain age, but mine may or may not have looked like the one pictured. 👀
Back in 1999, I worked for a consulting services firm. They hired me to eventually run their document production department. It didn’t exist when they hired me, but they were planning. So they brought me in as an executive assistant for one of the financial services partners to get me in the door. By the time the production department was up and running, I had moved into a different position in the same firm, but that is not the story for this week.
The story for this week is that a huge focus in 1999 was the Year 2000 (yes…always capitalized), commonly referred to as Y2K.
From a logistical perspective, and looking back on it now, the planning required for Y2K made sense. Most computer programs didn’t use four-digit years, so the switch from 1999 to 2000 could be misinterpreted as 1999 to 1900. Businesses had to be ready, and most companies didn’t have the staff with the experience, knowledge, or time to work through it and also do their day-to-day jobs. So they hired consulting firms to prepare them.
But an even bigger part of the story was the number of people who did more panicking than planning. Some really believed that the world as we knew it was going to end at midnight. There was talk about the entire power grid going down. Airplanes were going to fall out of the sky. The global markets were going to collapse. Bank accounts were going to get wiped out, so people withdrew ridiculous amounts of cash. They stockpiled nonperishables. I don’t remember a run on toilet paper like we saw with COVID in 2020, but I do remember thinking people were just a little crazy.
There were other people who didn’t panic at all. Normally, people buy hats and horns, glasses and streamers in December, just in time to ring in the new year. Y2K-branded items were available a lot earlier in 1999 than December. I recently came across a picture holder for 2000 that’s been in my garage for literally two decades. And I know I had that Y2K bug that’s probably in a box in the garage near the one where I found the picture holder. Or it’s in the attic because I gave it to my daughter at some point.
People planned New Year’s Eve parties with Prince’s “1999” on the playlist. We watched other countries ring in the Year 2000 without their power grids going down and without planes falling out of the sky. And when I logged into my computer at work on Monday, January 3, 2000, nothing happened. I’m sure there were glitches, but all in all, Y2K kind of went off without a hitch. 🤷🏼♀️
For the residents of Linden, New Jersey, at the beginning of the book below, Y2K started with a mass murder investigation at the local Blockbuster. That’s a video rental store for those of you not of a certain age. Videos are what we watched before DVDs. DVDs are what we watched before streaming. Oh never mind…just go read the book.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
312 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in New Jersey, four teenagers working late at the store are attacked. Only one inexplicably survives. Police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive.
In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy; the brother of the fugitive accused, who’s convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller who must delve into the secrets of both nights—stirring up memories of teen love and lies—to uncover the truth about murders on the night shift.
************
Main Characters:
- Sarah Keller – a junior agent with the FBI, eight months pregnant with twins, her husband Bob is a soundman at a recording studio
- Jesse Duvall – high school student in foster care, the only survivor of the attack at the ice cream store, wants to be a journalist and has been researching the Blockbuster murders for an article
- Ella Monroe – the only survivor from a mass murder at the Blockbuster in New Jersey 15 years prior, works as a therapist
- Dale Steadman – the current principal at Ella’s old high school, he was a teacher when she attended, calls Ella to help after the attack at the ice cream store to meet with the only survivor
- Chris Ford – a Union County public defender, his brother Vince was arrested for the Blockbuster murders but released and then vanished due to lack of evidence, adopted after the prosecutor saw the bruises from his father’s beatings after Vince’s arrest, Chris thinks Vince is a travel blogger he follows and is determined to find him
- Atticus Singh – young detective assigned to the ice cream store attack, working closely with Keller
Attention thriller readers: if Alex Finlay is not on your TBR list, add him now. Run (don’t walk) to your local bookstore or search for him on whatever reading device or audiobook platform you prefer. Which titles, you ask? All of them. You heard me. All…of…them.
I first discovered Finlay when I received an advance copy of What Have We Done (his third book—You Really Do Only Get One First Impression), and I was hooked. This book demonstrates what I love about Finlay’s writing style. I came away from this one the same way I came from the others. I wish I could read it again without knowing the ending because I enjoyed it so much, so I’m not giving you anything regarding the plot here. You read the description. I gave you the main characters. You’re getting nothing else in terms of the story. I will tell you more about why you should read Finlay’s books though. 😉
Finlay excels at pacing a story and weaving so many potential suspects into the plot without giving away the real villain. It literally could be almost anyone. Points of view alternate, keeping chapters just long enough to advance the story but short enough that you want to keep reading to get back to the point of view you just finished. It’s a delicate balance for a thriller, and more than once, I found myself thinking “just one more chapter.” His books will keep you reading long after you know you should be sleeping.
He writes fantastic characters, and I especially love FBI agent Sarah Keller. She is the main reason I read this particular book after receiving an advance copy of Finlay’s most recent release Parents Weekend (New and Improved Texting Manners). She mentions a previous case, and I discovered she actually stars in both of Finlay’s first two books, which I immediately purchased. I wanted her back story.
We don’t only get “work Keller” though. We don’t see a lot of her husband Bob, but he gives us a glimpse at her softer side. Bob calls her G-woman on a regular basis, which I found ridiculously endearing. He clearly respects her career, and I love their interactions:
“I almost forgot, I made you something.” He jumps out of his chair and retrieves a thermos from the counter.
“Please, not the pregnancy smoothie you’ve been going on about?”
He raises his eyebrows up and down.
When she finishes the bagel, Bob helps her out of the chair.
“I’m pregnant, not incapacitated, you know.”
Bob doesn’t reply. He kneels so he’s facing her belly. Looking down at his bald head—the dome surrounded by the doughnut of hair that is ironic without him intending it to be—Keller feels a surge of warmth run through her.
“Take care of your mama, little Feebies,” Bob tells her tummy.
One piece of advice, after Parents Weekend, I read Every Last Fear (Finlay’s first novel released in November 2021 and reviewed next week in The Best Documentaries are True Crime Documentaries) and The Night Shift (March 2022) in release date order, assuming they were chronological. Finlay had apparently not planned to use Keller’s character again, but she ended up in The Night Shift, eight months pregnant, whereas the twins are about four years old and Bob is a stay-at-home dad in Every Last Fear. So I basically read all three Sarah Keller books in reverse chronological order. 🤣
Four Finlay books down…one to go.
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