On Morgan Talty’s 'Fire Exit'

“This is silly,” thinks Morgan Talty’s narrator, as he guns his pickup towards the climax of Fire Exit—and the man ought to trust his instincts. He’s heading into what looks like the worst blizzard of a hard Maine winter, a snow and cold that’s saturated the entire ferocious novel, and he hopes to find a young woman with a history of mental disorders. Most likely he’ll have to leave the truck soon, slogging on foot through the flakes “coming slanted and harder and faster.” Yet he’s neither EMT nor police, and he’s taking these extraordinary risks for someone he hardly knows. The missing woman may be his daughter Elizabeth, but even if she is, the two of them have never met.