In a series of powerful vignettes, Where the Light Flickers tells the story of two families navigating the complexities of life in rural Appalachia. Hem’s family once lived in Providence, a large city inland, but were forced to move to the peninsula when Hem lost his veterinary license for malpractice. Now, ten years later and still practicing illegally, Hem struggles to heal the many wounds his past mistakes have opened.
When his daughter runs off with a young miner from a nearby town, his son is injured by a neighbor’s bull, and his wife blames him for both of these misfortunes, Hem must face his own inadequacies as a father, as a husband, and as a man.
The Sullivans have lived on the peninsula for generations, and retain a firm grip on all criminal activity in the region. In addition to smuggling drugs and running an illegal bar, Spoon Sullivan is an avid dog breeder, and takes his hobby just as seriously as his business. He is a man of unbounded confidence, who treats everybody in his life as tools to be used up, including his methamphetamine-addicted wife, Em, and son, Mason, who is trying desperately to define himself as something other than “just another Sullivan.”
Early in the novel, Hem finds a wounded dog that Spoon has tried to castrate. When Spoon finds out that Hem has nursed it back to health, he comes to take it back, leading to an unforgettable encounter for both men—one that forces them to reconsider dormant fears. From here, their family and their personal lives, which have long shown signs of fraying, start to finally unravel. Both become increasingly anxious, self-absorbed, and unpredictable. Both reach for authority wherever they can find it, ironically eroding what little they already had. In the end, Hem is left with a family that no longer trusts, but only tolerates him. Spoon, having reached the end of a long, destructive bender, forces a standoff with police which ends in the public killing of his only real friend.
At its heart, Where the Light Flickers is about human beings coming to terms with the knowledge of their own insignificance. For some, this struggle ends disastrously. For others, there is comfort in the fact that everyone is, ultimately, in the same boat.
