In her previous novels (there are three books in the author’s Grace McDonald Series) writer and therapist Susan Kraus didn’t shy away from controversial topics like religious bigotry or sexual assault, exploring them with sensitivity and restraint. But the COVID-19 pandemic presented her with a challenge of an entirely different magnitude. Kraus’ latest novel, WHEN WE LOST TOUCH, tries to tackle issues that surfaced during the horrible year that was 2020. Among them: institutional racism, police brutality, hysterical paranoia of the extreme right, and, above all, monstrous incompetence of a government that led to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

We follow Kraus’ recurrent lead character, therapist Grace McDonald as she tries to console medical workers and bereaved whose loved ones died. We follow her best friend, Katrina, struggling not only with the long COVID but also with conversations about racism brought by well-documented cases of police brutality. Then there’s Grace’s family and friends, all dealing with various side effects of the global pandemic. Through her characters, Kraus does a great job guiding readers through reactions to a disease that was everywhere and nowhere, omnipresent yet invisible. At first, there were shock and disbelief. Then, a growing sense of anxiety turned into existential fear as people’s lives, families, and jobs fell apart. Finally, growing frustration and anger as more and more people died.

WHEN WE LOST TOUCH occasionally feels disjointed and meandering. There are entire plot lines–like the ones following Zed and Cherry or the funeral director Ian Thomas–unrelated to the rest of the characters. In addition, the ending is somewhat anticlimactic. The pandemic comes and goes, like a tidal wave, leaving destruction in its wake. However, while true to life, this is a novel. If Kraus struggles here it’s because she’s too close to the subject matter. But we all are. We’re still reeling from a disaster, trying to make sense of it. As a novel, WHEN WE LOST TOUCH is ambitious yet imperfect. Maybe, it would have been better as a collection of stories. No matter. While the book has some flaws, Susan Kraus is on the right track. We need to write about this pandemic to remind ourselves of those who were less lucky than us and learn from their stories. We will require these lessons when–not if, when–a similar disaster strikes in the future.

WHEN WE LOST TOUCH by Susan Kraus is arguably her most ambitious novel as the author depicts the devastating effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic by telling deeply humane stories about ordinary people.

~Danijel Štriga, for IndieReader