An emotional story of big dreams and impossible circumstances
Angie is a trained figure skater with Olympic aspirations. But when a grueling injury shakes up her plans, she turns to the Peace Corps, which will take her across the world. It turns out: that decision will change the trajectory of her life forever.
She soon finds herself in charge of vaccinating every child in the small city of Tunis; she’s a leader in the community in no time. All of that changes, though, when she falls for a charming man named James who makes her question all of her previous hesitancies toward men.
James breaks down her guard and sweeps her off her feet, but their honeymoon period is short lived. Soon after their marriage, he is captured and taken hostage in Iran. In Goodbye Demons, we are taken across the world and back as a young couple figures out how to survive and sustain their relationship during turbulent political times. With both their emotions and their physical circumstances in crisis mode, it’s hard to tell if either will be able to escape their demons or if they’ll always just come back to get them.
Goodbye Demons is a book of surprises. Just as I thought it was going one way, it would pivot and change direction entirely. There are times where I wasn’t unsure if I liked the reroute, but Harrigan makes sure you enjoy the unpredictable ride. For instance, the story starts with Angie training to be an elite figure skater and then pivots to living in a place that barely has running water. She goes from being completely uninterested in dating to falling in love with a man out of left field. Things can change at any moment in this book, like in life.
Harrigan captures vividly what it must feel like to be held captive in a world you don’t know. James goes into Iran with a hopeful outlook, but it doesn’t take long for all of his biggest fears to start taking shape. Rather than focusing solely on Angie’s experience without him, Harrigan hones in on James’s day-to-day experience too. He doesn’t shy away from the mundane nature of being a hostage, as not every day is filled with torture. Here, it’s the stillness in between the big moments that seems to torment the most. They never know when violence will strike again. The chapters bleed with emotion in James’s chapters, even when things are quiet.
Goodbye Demons is not only a book about the cruelties of captivity and a heightened political climate but also about the things happening underneath the surface for each character. Angie and James have a few issues going on behind the scenes that only heighten the grueling situation they find themselves in. Their common, everyday struggles seems small in comparison to the intensity of being a hostage, but they still exist. Harrigan blends extraordinary circumstances with typical marital issues to leave us with a story of truth. You don’t always get the things you want.
Angie has moments of redemption, but she can also be kind of a tough follow. She’s overly dependent on her stepfather to save the day with oodles of cash and connections. Despite her best intentions, she goes about her life privileged but kind of unaware of it; she doesn’t worry much about consequences because they don’t happen to her really. She is the catalyst for danger but doesn’t face it herself.
Another pitfall here is that the narrative pays a lot of attention to Angie and James’s romantic relationship. We’re asked to invest in it emotionally and over a long period of time, but there’s really not much connection or pay-off one way or the other.
Goodbye Demons is an altogether enjoyable, immersive historical novel that oscillates between true-to-life moments and gripping sequences.
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