[M1P]≫ PDF Gratis The Weight of Blood A Novel Laura McHugh 9780812995206 Books

The Weight of Blood A Novel Laura McHugh 9780812995206 Books

Download As PDF : The Weight of Blood A Novel Laura McHugh 9780812995206 Books

The Weight of Blood A Novel Laura McHugh 9780812995206 Books

First Sentence: That Cheri Stoddard was found at all was the thing that set people on edge, even more so than the condition of her body.

Lucy Dane’s friend has been found murdered and dismembered. This is the second person Lucy has lost; the first being her mother who vanished years ago from Henbane, in the Ozark mountains. Her search for answers leads her to dark, family secrets and grave danger.

There's nothing better than an author with a real story-teller’s voice, and McHugh has that. She doesn't just describe, she makes you see--and feel, and make us consider things for ourselves.

The first chapter really draws the reader in. The second chapter has one even more intrigued. Although it can be confusing to have a story told from multiple points of view; that is not the case here, as each chapter clearly indicates the narrator. However, there is an initial confusion related to two of the characters which was quite cleverly done, and only makes the story more compelling.

McHugh perfectly conveys the atmosphere of a very small, Ozark community, or any small community, where everyone knows everyone else’s' business and superstitions are part of life. "If I didn't find out what had happened to her, she would always be drifting somewhere in the ether, a life that never quite materialized."

There is a very good, nasty twist and something is made clear that wasn't quite--or this reader completely missed it—and a very good build up of tension. It's definitely a book you don't want to stop reading once you've started.

“The Weight of Blood,” in spite of a few too many TSTL moments, and a climax that was rather cliché, was a thoroughly engrossing, one-sitting, read.

The Weight of Blood (Susp-Lucy/Lila Dane_Henbane, MO_Contemp) - Good
McHugh, Laura – 1st book
Random House, March 2014


Tags : The Weight of Blood: A Novel [Laura McHugh] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. For fans of Gillian Flynn, Scott Smith, and Daniel Woodrell comes a gripping, suspenseful novel about two mysterious disappearances a generation apart. <b> <b>INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD WINNER AND BARRY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL • </b>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKPAGE</i></b> <b> </b> The town of Henbane sits deep in the Ozark Mountains. Folks there still whisper about Lucy Dane’s mother,Laura McHugh,The Weight of Blood: A Novel,Spiegel & Grau,0812995201,Sagas,Thrillers - Suspense,Families;Fiction.,Human trafficking;Fiction.,Mothers and daughters;Fiction.,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,Arkansas,FICTION Sagas,Families,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction Literary,Fiction Psychological,Fiction Thrillers Suspense,Fiction-Suspense,GENERAL,General Adult,Human trafficking,Mothers and daughters,MysterySuspense,Psychological,United States

The Weight of Blood A Novel Laura McHugh 9780812995206 Books Reviews

Regarding my headline I suspect the reason some people didn't like this book is because it is not the typical plot-driven suspense novel. It's much better than some of those which simply have card-board characters that the writer hopes you won't notice as you're rushing to find what happens next. Instead, this is, like much literary fiction, a novel to be savored (though admittedly I read in one day!). Characters are well-developed and complex and that is especially true of one of the villains (and yes, we know who he is early on, which is not a mistake, but rather a choice the author made). (next sentence contains what might be a mild SPOILER so read at your own risk)
_
_
_
_
_
_

In fact, it is one of the things that I have held onto from reading this novel ......there is point when a character says I loved a monster and a monster loved me. That has stayed with me from this book, because it gets at the real complexity of the novel. This is not a whodunnit, nor is it a thriller with over the top situations and one-dimensional characters, but it is really more about the relationships between people and the secrets they keep and why.

I do agree that the end was a bit rushed, but it's a minor issue really. Overall, if you want a book that includes compelling characters, great details about setting, and a story that yes, does have some suspense, then this is a good one. I bought this book on sale, but I would have been happy to pay full price for it, and I will put Laura McHugh on my list of authors to watch, as I really enjoyed this book!
This novel's description intrigued me immediately - when I finally Sampled it on my and read the beginning, I was not sure I would continue, the occurrence was so tragic. Fortunately I DID continue, or I would have missed a very good novel.

I enjoy novels that tie in a past and a current incident, in this case two deaths that occur a generation apart.

I enjoy novels that take place in parts of our country where I've never been - in this case the Ozarks. Novels that take me to customs and ways totally foreign to my existence, i.e. small town idiocyncracies. I think what really 'hooked' me to read this haunting book was the sentence in one of the editor's descriptions that read that the story was "an urgent look at the dark side of a bucolic landscape beyond the arm of the law, where a person can easily disappear without a trace" - I knew that reading this novel would be like sitting down to watch a very suspenseful movie.

I love when novels make me pause to think, which usually leads to highlighting - some examples

"The only reasonable explanation was that an outsider was responsible, and outsiders bred fear in a way no homegrown criminal could."

"How do you decide to trust someone you barely know? It was hard not to be swayed by unreliable portents. Birdie had taught me a thousand ways to divine unknowable answers, mostly passed down through folk wisdom - watching animals, splitting seeds, examining bones. She'd told me "The way it hollows out when things aren't right, when you're about to take a bad turn."

"I was starting to think you were one kind of person until a situation arose that required you to be something else. It didn't mean that I was on the road to ruin. It just meant that I would do what I had to. You didn't wait for snakes to come out of their den, you poured the den full of gasoline."

I continued thinking about this book long after completing it, which in my opinion is what a GOOD novel will do for a reader.
First Sentence That Cheri Stoddard was found at all was the thing that set people on edge, even more so than the condition of her body.

Lucy Dane’s friend has been found murdered and dismembered. This is the second person Lucy has lost; the first being her mother who vanished years ago from Henbane, in the Ozark mountains. Her search for answers leads her to dark, family secrets and grave danger.

There's nothing better than an author with a real story-teller’s voice, and McHugh has that. She doesn't just describe, she makes you see--and feel, and make us consider things for ourselves.

The first chapter really draws the reader in. The second chapter has one even more intrigued. Although it can be confusing to have a story told from multiple points of view; that is not the case here, as each chapter clearly indicates the narrator. However, there is an initial confusion related to two of the characters which was quite cleverly done, and only makes the story more compelling.

McHugh perfectly conveys the atmosphere of a very small, Ozark community, or any small community, where everyone knows everyone else’s' business and superstitions are part of life. "If I didn't find out what had happened to her, she would always be drifting somewhere in the ether, a life that never quite materialized."

There is a very good, nasty twist and something is made clear that wasn't quite--or this reader completely missed it—and a very good build up of tension. It's definitely a book you don't want to stop reading once you've started.

“The Weight of Blood,” in spite of a few too many TSTL moments, and a climax that was rather cliché, was a thoroughly engrossing, one-sitting, read.

The Weight of Blood (Susp-Lucy/Lila Dane_Henbane, MO_Contemp) - Good
McHugh, Laura – 1st book
Random House, March 2014