Eld Mackey absolutely knows better than to get involved in trafficking alcohol, but after watching the worst people make money while he struggles to take care of his family after World War one, he takes a risk and becomes a rumrunner on Lake Huron. With Prohibition ending soon, the whole illegal enterprise is supposed to be a temporary way to right the Mackey’s financial situation, but things quickly spiral. Soon Eld’s tiny family-controlled operation is being haunted not just by the weighty poverty of the Great Depression, but also with the family being hunted down by true criminals. Maggie, Eld’s wife, finds herself and her daughter hiding out in a cult while Eld moves across Canada. There’s no guarantee of survival, and those who do make it out alive might not ever be the same.
In a modern time when most households in the United States are struggling to keep food on the table, readers are not going to find much of an escape in reading about the Great Depression and running liquor across Lake Huron from Canada to Michigan. The life of the Mackey family is impoverished and dark, setting readers up to understand why they would risk so much by entering the explosive world of illegal alcohol transportation during Prohibition. While the Getting is Good forces readers to confront what they would do when faced with the choice of a general sense of moral superiority or an absolute need to survive. The book is gritty; writer Matt Riordan refuses to sugarcoat or romanticize life as a gangster. Where the book struggles is a final resolution. This novel is based partially on Riordan’s own family lore, meaning that this book feels personal and that may contribute to the rather abrupt ending. Riordan doesn’t wrap everything up in a bow, which I know many readers will struggle with.
While the Getting is Good is now available from Hyperion Avenue Publishing.
