The Weight of Silence
Synopsis: It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.
Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.
Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.
Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.
Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.
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Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review: Right in the beginning of the first chapter I felt how the character was feeling. I felt the anxiousness, nervousness, and how scared they felt; I didn't feel this way with all the characters but there were a couple that BAM I was in their position, which is amazingly sad when it comes to this book.
Heather Gudenkauf's writing was spectacular in this novel, and I'm pretty sure her writing has improved over the years. From all the setting changes to the background that each character came from had to have taken some work. I give you a standing ovation, Heather.
The book takes place within two days, though a good majority of the book is flashback. Almost each chapter has a flashback that reveals more about each characters motive.
I will say that there were a few slow moments, but as a whole this book could be read fairly quickly. There are not a lot of twists or turns until the last hundred pages, and then all was reveal and I was left in shock. When I finished, I flipped though the pages trying to find certain chapters and realized that I jumped the gun on my thoughts. Everything is not as it seems, I'll say that much. The bad guy isn't that bad of a guy, and the good guy is evil as hell in the inside.
If you're thinking of grabbing this book and reading it then caution, this books covers a few deep situations concerning kids and some people can't handle that, I barely could.
With more books to read
-Vangie
Psalms 37:4
