So Far Gone by Jess Walter
If the news cycle has ever given you the urge to throw your phone out the window of a moving car, you will find a kindred spirit in Rhys Kinnick, the protagonist of Spokane author Jess Walter’s recently published eighth novel, “So Far Gone.”
Rhys, an environmental reporter forced into early retirement by a shrinking print news industry, has strong feelings about his daughter Bethany’s husband, Shane, whose involvement with a far-right religious group called Army of the Lord is a growing concern. Despite Rhys promising to be on his best behavior at a family Thanksgiving gathering, an argument with Shane about his latest conspiracy theory ends in a fistfight and Bethany throwing Rhys out.
It is the last straw for a man who cannot comprehend the ways social media and modern politics are undermining truth, leaving the absence of any sort of common reality. Rhys packs up his few possessions, his copy of “Walden,” and retreats to an ancient cinderblock house his grandfather built on the edge of the Spokane Reservation, closing himself off from both family and news of the world.
Seven years into this retreat from the world, having spent the time reading classics and systematically tearing down decrepit outbuildings to serve the grand idea of returning the property to nature, Rhys’ two estranged grandkids show up at his door. Rhys has not seen them in so long, he at first thinks they must be selling magazines or chocolate bars. The neighbor who has driven them to the remote cabin shares a note from Bethany asking Rhys to keep them to prevent Shane from taking them to the Army of the Lord compound across the border in Idaho.
Rhys takes the kids in, only to have several of Shane’s militia goons kidnap them mere hours later. Intent on repairing his relationship with Bethany (from whom he has been estranged since the Thanksgiving incident), Rhys enlists the help of Chuck Littlefield, a retired detective who describes himself as an “old, tired, half-horny, twice-divorced cop with bad knees, three estranged kids and emotional dysregulation and bipolar issues.” Littlefield argues that they need to drive to the Army of the Lord compound in Idaho and “repossess” the kids. What could go wrong?
Unlike some of Walter’s other novels, such as the New York Times bestseller “Beautiful Ruins” that spans 50 years and has a huge cast of characters, “So Far Gone” takes place over several days with a taut and focused cast. The novel has a cinematic feel and an Old West vibe; Walter, who has lived in Spokane his whole life, paints the landscape and its inhabitants with a sure hand informed by intimate knowledge.
In the way that the best novels can be both prescient and timely, Walter speaks to political and cultural tensions in America today. As Lauren Groff says in her book jacket blurb, the novel “speaks directly into the profoundly troubled soul of our fractured, embittered country; miraculously, it does so with gentle wryness and angry love.”
While the title suggests emotional distance and extremism, “So Far Gone” also explores themes of redemption, return and the possibility of bridging divides, suggesting that even when someone or something seems “so far gone,” there is still a chance for change and connection.
Lisa Gresham is the collection services manager for the Whatcom County Library System, wcls.org.
(Originally published in Cascadia Daily News, Monday, August 25, 2025.)