The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Calli has not spoken since she was four years old. Watching her mother lose her baby was enough but someone whispered words in her ear. Now her best friend Petra talks for her. But when both girls disappear, questions arise if something more sinister has happened in this small Iowa town. Now it's a race for time to find them and hope that they can catch whomever is behind it all.

Ms. Gudenkauf has a fantastic emotional roller coaster on her hands. Between the emotions and old ties between two of the characters and the desperation felt by the parents, you just cannot put the book down. Ms. Gudenkauf captured small town life so well. I was enthralled with not only the process that they had to follow to do a search but how it was broken. Emotions were running high and all the points of view presented in the book flowed so well.

Between Ben (Calli's brother), Antonia (Calli's mom), Sheriff Louis, Martin (Petra's dad), as well as Calli herself, you got a good glimpse into what was going on. There is a lot of drama going on in this small town. Calli gets swept up into it.

This is one book that captured my attention from the beginning. For being a debut, it was amazing! There were twists and turns that just kept me turning pages. The idea behind it all made me curious to see how it would play out. I was never quite sure who the suspect was from the beginning. Something didn't add up but I wasn't able to figure things out till the end. Definitely cannot wait to see what this author does next!

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Okay so I am a little behind in posting. I just finished a book this morning so not sure when I'll post the review.

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

The deaths of women are always difficult to deal with. Not more than most but when life is taken in its prime in a small town, life changes for the whole town. And most of all life changed for two men, Ron Williamson and Denis Fritz. They were convicted of a crime that neither committed. The thing that was most mind-boggling was how they couldn’t prove either way of their guilt or not. Too many snitches got involved and it was 15 years later that they both were exonerated. The process taken was long and drawn out but surprising to read.

This is the first book I have ever read by John Grisham. I enjoyed it a lot. It took me awhile cause there was so much information to pass along so that you could understand the undertaking not only of the men to try and prove themselves innocent but the process that they had to follow. Mr. Grisham had a lot of resources after the fact that he could look at to be able to write his book from letters to transcripts to even personal testimony from a lot of people involved. I was pleased how he didn’t bash the wrong doers for what they did yet he made sure to point out where they went wrong in their quest for the truth. I have seen with living in a small town how crime rarely happens of this magnitude but when it does there is serious pressure to get it solved.

I was thoroughly appalled by what happened to the men in this book who were not guilty and not just Ron and Dennis. Other men were mentioned of other cases at the time as side notes and it surprised me that people could get away with so much. I give this book a 4/5 because it seemed a bit slow. But there was so much information that he had to present and I am sure he left quite a bit out to make sure the book was still interesting. It could also be that I have not read Non-Fiction in quite some time. I recommend this to people who think the justice system has no faults. Nothing is perfect and I have come to realize that but when justice is truly served than one can only hope things will get better.

360 pages/ non-fiction

Now off to read Gourdfellas by Maggie Bruce and then two romance novels. LOL Oh joy! :)