Is almost every other character a greedy, selfish, lying scumbag who paints themselves as the victim whenever they can to weasel out of anything they can? Yes. Over the course of two days, Lynette goes about collecting debts she's owed from the sketchiest of characters, risking her life to salvage a dream. Published in the US, several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post. The album features Vlautin on guitar and vocals, Amy Boone (vocals), Cory Gray on piano and trumpets, Sean Oldham on drums, and Freddy Trujillo on bass. It is produced by John Morgan Askew and features 10 new Delines songs, in addition to a cover of Spiritualized’s 1997 song "Broken Heart".

Willy Vlautin has a wonderfully fresh and naive style which does take a bit of getting used to. While The Night Always Comes follows a conventional chronological structure, he makes some unusual narrative decisions, and for a while I battled against those, until I came to accept them and just enjoy the ride.

Safe & Secure

Set over two days and two nights, The Night Always Comes follows Lynette's frantic search—an odyssey of hope and anguish that will bring her face to face with greedy rich men and ambitious hustlers, those benefiting and those left behind by a city in the throes of a transformative boom. As her desperation builds and her pleas for help go unanswered, Lynette makes a dangerous choice that sets her on a precarious, frenzied spiral. In trying to save her family's future, she is plunged into the darkness of her past, and forced to confront the reality of her life.

In a neighborhood that once was labeled as a poor urban area, has been changed through gentrification. A very controversial topic with the influx of more affluent residents and businesses changing the facade of the area and displacing many of the ones that were already having a difficult time surviving. Between looking after her brother, working two low-paid jobs, and trying to take part-time college classes, Lynette is dangerously tired. Every penny she's earned for years, she's put into savings, trying to scrape together enough to take out a mortgage on the house she rents with her mother. Finally becoming a homeowner in their rapidly gentrifying Portland neighbourhood could offer Lynette the kind of freedoms she's never had. But, when the plan is derailed, Lynette must embark on a desperate odyssey of hope and anguish. Not dissimilar to his previous five novels, Vlautin's deftness in making his characters so impacting is remarkable. Just as in Lean on Pete, in which we become impassioned with the vulnerable Charley, or the tragedy surrounding Horace in Don't Skip Out on Me, here our central character Lynette is equally ineffaceable. His sixth novel to date, published in 2021, The Night Always Comes is arguably his most affecting, and without doubt will leave indelible marks. Willy Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author and the lead singer and songwriter of Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he has released nine studio albums since the late nineties with his band while he has written four novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, and The Free.Sometimes all you can do in life is have another bowl of ice cream. Sometimes that’s the only move you can make to keep yourself from going completely nuts.’ the story is tight cutting perfection, and it keeps the reader very close; i felt lynette's exhaustion and frustration deep in my bones, and the smallness of her asks—that debts be repaid, that promises be kept, that hard work and sacrifice count for something—was heartbreakingly real.

And are they victims? In a way. In that they are all victims of being losers in the American dream who see no other option but screwing anybody and everybody however they can to (in their eyes) even the scales with fate. Willy Vlautin is not known for happy endings, but there’s something here that defies the downward pull. In the end, Lynette is pure life force: fierce and canny and blazing through a city that no longer has space for her, and it’s all Portland’s loss.” — Portland Monthly Magazine Willy Vlautin is not known for happy endings, but there’s something here that defies the downward pull. In the end, Lynette is pure life force: fierce and canny and blazing through a city that no longer has space for her, and it’s all Portland’s loss.”— Portland Monthly Magazine but other people get to have dreams, too, and her mother suddenly wants to carve out a different future for herself, one that doesn't involve living in a house with so many bad memories, and one that doesn't involve living with lynette anymore. she announces that she's made other arrangements and the rest of the book is a real-time scramble as lynette tries to wrangle enough money to buy the house on her own. We get to know a lot about the topography of Portland Oregon, and gig posters for small-time local bands, but very little about Lynette’s logical processes. Perhaps she has none. Obsessed with a desire to move up the social ladder to middle-class home ownership, she is committed to hard work… along with prostitution, grand theft, burglary, drug-dealing, and GBH. Lynette apparently never thinks about consequences but merely reacts impulsively to anything beyond her obsession.It's propulsive, moving, dark and full of hope and heart. He's a genius. My book of the year.' - Craig Silvey, Sydney Morning Herald

Lake Oswego Library - Lake Oswego Library Presents: Willy Vlautin - with Bill Kenower – on The Free and Don’t Skip Out on Me – video - 34:42 it's a compact and affecting book about gentrification's effect on portland's working poor and one woman's attempt to hold on to what little she has. In common though with Vlautin's other work, this is a story about working class people. But whereas other writers may focus on a courageous warm-hearted protagonist who just needs a chance to shine, or a troubled person whose morals have been worn away through unfortunate circumstances, Vlautin uses a different and refreshing approach. As the novel opens, Lynette the protagonist, who lives with her mother and developmentally disabled adult brother, is cobbling together savings and debts, in an effort to buy the house they currently rent, for a little less than market value. A week away from closing the deal, her mother announces she doesn't want to buy at all. What may seem a mundane premise, comes alive as Lynette sets out to rectify the situation, swanning around the city over a weekend looking for money. I do not travel in intellectual circles and I do not have the opportunity to speak with individuals who have a great interest in reading. Therefore my personal experience may be skewed. However I am beginning to feel that Willie Vlautin is one of the best modern American writers of fiction that I NEVER hear anyone speak about. I accidentally came upon him when reading a novel by George Pelecanos, “The Man Who Came Uptown”. Willy Vlautin is not known for happy endings, but there’s something here that defies the downward pull. In the end, Lynette is pure life force: fierce and canny and blazing through a city that no longer has space for her, and it’s all Portland’s loss.”—Portland Monthly MagazineWhile the sketchy men that make up this novel are shown to be driven into desperation and violence through poverty (there are, to be fair, also the rich men in the novel who satisfy their carnal lusts on the poor which is even worse), the mother represents those who are crushed under the weight of futility. ‘ Why should they bust their asses all day when they know no matter what they do they’ll never get ahead,’ she says of people facing the harsh realities of life. She is a prime example of a worker given just enough hours to make finding another job hard yet not enough hours to survive, and at an age where finding a new job is difficult when there are so many young people to fill the type of jobs she is qualified for. The people this country is definitely failing. She is a character that is so close to understanding, but in her rage against those who only look out for themselves she gives in to that same temptation. Yet still, she hits many good points on the way. The main issue with a Willy Vlautin novel is that it has to end. Here is another phenomenal book that unnerves, disquiets and makes you wince as his prose stabs at you violently with unhinged fervour.