The Weight of Silence, by Heather Gudenkauf.

I cannot believe that I have to relive this book to write this review right now.  Yup.  That’s my visceral reaction to it.  Kinda like when PeeWee Herman is saving all of the animals from the burning Pet Store and keeps bypassing the snake tanks, looking at them out of the corner of his eye and shuddering.  (PeeWee’s Big Adventure – probably dating myself with that one…)

This book is not for the faint of heart.  And I don’t mean that if you choose not to read this you’d be considered a wimp.  I just mean that if you do decide to read it, this book might make you throw up, have a panic attack and definitely lose sleep if you have a little girl.

Not to discredit this author.  She was obviously extremely effective at making you feel as though what was happening in her novel was happening to you and yours.  And the book was compelling.  Like watching a car accident.  You can’t turn away and you need to know what happens next.

It’s a story about 2 families who’s daughters go missing and what happens that day unfolds through the alternating perspective of six characters affected by the events.

 

 

 

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

I was over my girlfriend’s house a month ago and we were talking books.  She gave me 2 books to bring home, saying that she’d thoroughly enjoyed both of them. I said, “OK.  Just as long as neither of them has any child abuse in them.”

She thought for a minute and then said, “nope” and handed them both to me.  And I didn’t bother reading the back of either book because I took her word for it and didn’t want to find out anything about them.

Shoulda read the back of this one…

I suppose not everyone will have or has had the same reaction that I did.  It is, after all, just a book.  So, if you have no problem separating yourself emotionally from books and movies and news stories, than you can handle it.  But if you freak out about any mention of harm to children, you might want to pick a lighter read….