Press Play With Madeleine Brand

LA County was plagued by understaffing, underfunding, plus outdated and unclear policies and procedures during January’s wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, according to a new independent review, commissioned by the LA County Board of Supervisors. Some Altadena residents want the state to investigate this too, which Supervisor Kathryn Barger says she would support. Susan Choi’s latest and sixth novel, Flashlight, opens with a mystery. It’s 1978, and a precocious 10-year-old named Louisa is walking on the beach with her father, Serk. He’s carrying a flashlight. The two of them, along with Louisa’s mother, Anne, are spending the summer in coastal Japan. Japan is where Serk, who’s ethnically Korean, spent his childhood, and where he disappears. Tragedy unfolds, and Louisa is found washed up by the tide, barely alive. Serk, who can’t swim, is never found, presumed to be dead. Drowned. The novel is told through multiple perspectives. It spans four generations of S