What if, looking back on a night in the past, you remember only that you drank until you blacked out? Then you find a video that seems to indicate that you murdered a friend while you were out. That’s the crux of The Lost Night (Crown Publishing Group, 2019), a novel by Brooklyn-based journalist, Andrea Bartz.
Bartz's work has appeared in national publications like The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and Cosmopolitan. She’s also been an editor at Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications.
“The Lost Night follows the story of Lindsey,” Bartz says. “She’s 33 years old. She’s a fact-checker at a magazine in New York. And she seems to have her life pretty much together. She’s certainly moved on from ten years earlier and being part of this group of hard-partying post-grads who were treating New York City like a playground and going to crazy warehouse parties, concerts, and just having way too much fun for their own good.”
The friends disperse when one of them, group leader Edie, commits suicide. Or did she? Lindsey begins to wonder about the real story that police missed during their superficial investigation when she discovers an old video. And then, when she begins to dig into old emails and journals and friends’ memories, suicide begins to look a lot more like murder.
The Lost Night, is a mystery-thriller, a genre Bartz says she's comfortable in, although she hasn't given up on trying others. She has also co-authored a humor/pop culture book with Brenna Ehrlich called Stuff Hipsters Hate, based on a blog they did around 2009.
Bartz will read at This is a Bookstore/Bookbug in Kalamazoo on Tuesday, March 12, at 5:30 p.m. Refreshments will be available.
“I am super excited about this event,” Bartz says. “My grandparents live in Kalamazoo and so I love visiting the bookstore whenever I’m in town. The event will be a moderated talk with a friend of mine, Katie Scott, who's a neuro-psychologist. I’ll be doing a short reading and then she will be leading us in a conversation. She can bring in some additional perspective on those themes of memory, identity, and brain development from when you are 23 and partying all the time into adulthood. And then I’ll be signing books and hanging out.”
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