For fans of Gillian Flynn and Daniel Woodrell, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense about two mysterious disappearances, a generation apart, and the meaning of family-the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. The Dane family's roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn't kee For fans of Gillian Flynn and Daniel Woodrell, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense about two mysterious disappearances, a generation apart, and the meaning of family-the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. The Dane family's roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn't keep sixteen-year-old Lucy Dane from being treated like an outsider.

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Folks still whisper about her mother, a bewitching young stranger who inspired local myths when she vanished years ago. When one of Lucy's few friends, slow-minded Cheri, is found murdered, Lucy feels haunted by the two lost girls-the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn't protect. Everything changes when Lucy stumbles across Cheri's necklace in an abandoned trailer and finds herself drawn into a search for answers. What Lucy discovers makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion cast on her own kin. More alarming, she suspects Cheri's death could be linked to her mother's disappearance, and the connection between the two puts Lucy at risk of losing everything. In a place where the bonds of blood weigh heavy, Lucy must decide where her allegiances lie.

Set in the fictional town of Henbane in the Ozark Mountains this story could be billed as girl hick lit. Not the Honey Boo Boo version.more like this: Lucy Dane's slow minded friend Cheri had gone missing, now she has turned up in pieces and Lucy is one of the few in town that cares what happened to her. I remember when Cheri's body turned up in the tree: the ways I had failed her. Like how I'd been her best friend but she wasn't mine. How I'd worried something bad might have happened wh Set in the fictional town of Henbane in the Ozark Mountains this story could be billed as girl hick lit. Not the Honey Boo Boo version.more like this: Lucy Dane's slow minded friend Cheri had gone missing, now she has turned up in pieces and Lucy is one of the few in town that cares what happened to her.

I remember when Cheri's body turned up in the tree: the ways I had failed her. Like how I'd been her best friend but she wasn't mine. How I'd worried something bad might have happened when she went missing, but I didn't do anything about it. All the way back when we were little, me being less of a friend than she thought I was. I gave her my Happy Holidays Barbie, not because it was her favorite but because I had ruined its hair. Lucy later finds Cheri's necklace in a trailer and she starts asking questions around town about what might have happened.

Lucy's mom Lila also went missing from the town but no one looked hard for her either. She was the outcast, called a witch because she 'ensnared' men.

More like suffered from being around the assholes. Told from two different viewpoints this story works. Moving from past to present usually gets me confused but this one was done right. One thing that surprised me in the story was the town being okay with people just disappearing.

It happened pretty often in the time period of the story being told. I did get kinda stabby feeling wanting the jerks to disappear.so who I am to judge? Uncle Crete I'm looking at you. 'You grow up feeling the weight of blood, of family. There's no forsaking kin.

But you can't help when kin forsakes you or when strangers come to be family. I found a gif while searching for some to use for this review. Even though it doesn't make a dang bit of sense to use it I am going to anyways. Because it's my review.

And he is hot. 3.5 stars, actually.

Without even consciously trying to, i have read seven books so far this year, and all of them have been by women. Take that, patriarchy! But don't start raising me on the shoulders of feminism just yet, because what i am about to say will probably cause you to throw me into the gutter, and i would rather avoid the bruising. This book is a women's version of grit lit.

By saying this i am in no way saying it is inferior to the novels in the mostly male-author domi 3.5 stars, actually. Without even consciously trying to, i have read seven books so far this year, and all of them have been by women. Take that, patriarchy! But don't start raising me on the shoulders of feminism just yet, because what i am about to say will probably cause you to throw me into the gutter, and i would rather avoid the bruising. This book is a women's version of grit lit. By saying this i am in no way saying it is inferior to the novels in the mostly male-author dominated genre, and i am offended that you would even make that accusation. Which you haven't.

But here on the goodreads, i have seen so many flare-ups over people using terms like 'women's fiction' or 'chick lit' as though these are not actual, useful and recognizable distinctions for certain kinds of books, that i am trying to make myself perfectly clear before these situations arise. This is not women's fiction, and it certainly is not chick lit.

But it does offer a more female (not 'feminine') perspective to grit lit, which is usually characterized by a stark writing style and less insight into a character's psychology than just the very basic facts of the struggles of rural individuals living impoverished lives in harsh landscapes where nature doesn't give a damn and the moral codes are more biblical than, for lack of a better word at the moment, civilized. So i'm not saying this is girly, not at all. It is still full of that backwoods justice that i so love: It was common knowledge that in the hills, with infinite hiding places, bodies disappeared. They were fed to hogs or buried in the woods or dropped into abandoned wells. They were not dismembered and set out on display. It just wasn't how things were done. It was that lack of adherence to custom that seemed to frighten people the most.

Why would someone risk getting caught to show us what he'd done to Cheri when it would've been so easy to keep her body hidden? The only reasonable explanation was that an outsider was responsible, and outsiders bred fear in a way no homegrown criminal could. And that's perfect - that is one of the reasons i love this kind of writing so much - i love the idea of these small, close-knit social groups with their mistrust of outsiders and their very specific traditions and superstitions that have evolved over time, living away from the rest of the world.

And we have a strong independent female co-narrator in lucy who has grown up within this system, knows the rules, and is handy with a gun, who is somewhat 'other' because her mother came from 'outside,' but who is enough of the place to understand its rules, even as she deviates from them somewhat. 'I know you, though, Luce, and you always want to do the right thing.' 'I want to do my version of the right thing.' But the book is ultimately about women, and the ways in which their lives have been affected, for better or worse, by men. This is a split-narrative (mostly) between two female characters: lila and her daughter lucy.

Lila came up through the foster care system in iowa after her mother and stepfather were killed in an accident. A beautiful, magnetic kind of girl with a keen instinct for survival who makes people uneasy even as they are drawn to her. She endured the unwanted sexual attention of foster brothers and fathers, and fought back when it became an attempt at actual abuse. She has nowhere else to go, and no kin of her own, so when she responds to a help wanted ad that takes her to henbane, missouri (population 700) she knows this has to work out, because - again - she has nowhere else to go. It does not work out at all well, and she finds herself in a dangerous place without any allies willing to risk their lives for an outsider.

A scrap of luck falls her way, and she finds herself married with a baby girl, but still in danger and unable to tell anyone about what happened to her in henbane, lest she disrupt the fragile happiness she has managed to claw to herself. And then she goes missing, when lucy is still a baby, presumed by the town and her husband to have killed herself. Her daughter lucy is the other major voice. She has grown up in henbane, and is now a teenager with a teenager's conflicted feelings of love for her family and her familiar surroundings but an uncomfortable yearning for more. We'd learned in science class that stars looked brighter here than in most places because there were no competing lights. Henbane was a dark spot on the globe seen from space. Lucy is still haunted by the mystery of what happened to her mother, which only intensifies when her friend cheri, a 'slow-minded' girl she has mostly outgrown but still feels responsible for, also goes missing, and whose body turns up a year after her disappearance, scarred and cut into pieces.

The story back-and-forths through lila and lucy's stories, and paints an ugly picture of sexual intimidation, kidnapping, loyalty, and an understood code of silence. But it also tells the story of a mother's love for her daughter, and the risks she is willing to take to protect her. There are other voices here: birdie, the midwife who delivers lucy and becomes a surrogate grandmother to her, lila's only friend gabby, who knows nothing of lila's predicament or background, and is shattered by her disappearance, and ransome, a woman who worked beside lila upon her arrival -who knew everything but never told.

There are men in the story, too - lila's husband carl, his older brother crete, and jamie, a man who was bewitched by lila when he was just a little boy, but it is the women's stories that are the driving force. This is why i am calling it a women's version. The voices at the forefront are those of women. The violence is the violence towards women. The men exist in this novel to affect or be affected by the female characters, and the emphasis on family, particularly motherhood, sacrifice, and the inner life of the characters are not often found in male-authored books of this genre.

This is obviously not saying that men won't read this or that they wouldn't appreciate it, because obviously that would be a stupid thing to say. (i have spent a great deal of this review fending off attacks before they happen, but that's only because i am not new here on goodreads. Swiss Pocket Watch Serial Numbers. I know this is a very hot button) and i appreciate the perspective - it brings a fresh take to a genre i have read bunches of.

(incidentally, crossed my path today, and that's probably why i am so fixated on this gender/genre issue, even though they are very different books) there is a lot to appreciate here. Some of the plot-points strain credulity a bit, so that's why it didn't get a four or a five-star, but it is definitely a page-turner with an engaging story that is certainly dark and brutal, but not without its light at the end of the tunnel. Find all of my reviews at: “For fans of Gillian Flynn...” Seriously. Just stop it.

NO ONE likes this. It makes me feel all...

In this case (like most) it isn’t even true. Now, I am admittedly a drinker of the Flynn Kool-Aid. I think she kind of shits the bed when it comes to her endings, but she provides a wild ride for 99% of the story, so I have been forgiving. McHugh’s writing on the other hand... What can I even call it? Hi Find all of my reviews at: “For fans of Gillian Flynn...” Seriously.

Just stop it. NO ONE likes this. It makes me feel all... In this case (like most) it isn’t even true. Now, I am admittedly a drinker of the Flynn Kool-Aid.

I think she kind of shits the bed when it comes to her endings, but she provides a wild ride for 99% of the story, so I have been forgiving. McHugh’s writing on the other hand...

What can I even call it? Who the hell knows. All I know is it kept my attention like a slap to the face and made me incorporate words like “HOOOOOO-DOGGIE!” into my language. “You grow up feeling the weight of blood, of family. There’s no forsaking kin.

But you can’t help when kin forsakes you or when strangers come to be family.” A simple synopsis is this was a two-fold story of the Dane family and their small community in the Ozarks. Part I of the book was told through the voice of Lila (in the past) and Lucy (in the present). (Usually the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff has a tendency to get on my nerves since it’s sooooooo overused, but in this case it worked.) By the end of that section I looked a little something like this..

Parts II and III were told through alternating voices of nearly every character who was introduced in Part I. Not only did the additional narratives add depth to the story, having added perspectives was necessary because of.... The Weight of Blood will be given the generic label of “mystery” for the simple fact that the present-day story loosely revolves around a murdered girl and the flashback story revolves around the disappearance of one. Since that’s the case, I’m pretty much going to tell you diddly squat about what happens.

I will say that I never read a synopsis, another review, and don’t remember what made me put this book on hold at the library, so I read 100 pages before even realizing I was reading a “mystery.” This wasn't a book that tried to hide the bad guys. In fact, it pointed the finger right at them and listed out examples of why they were terrible. The end result was a story about the community I was so caught up in that I forgot all about the poor dead girl! Not to mention how invested I became in the characters. Especially the women.

These broads were no shrinking violets. You’ll have to read between the lines a bit on the following quote, but let’s just say the snake didn’t end up having such a good day; ) “That so?” he sneered.

“Didn’t see one single thing all day? Not one thing that caught your eye?” “Maybe I saw a snake,” she said, “laying in the dirt. But the next time I looked, it was gone.” I hemmed and hawed all evening about what rating to give this one.

I can’t come up with any legitimate complaints, so it’s getting all 5 Stars. And y’all know I don’t hand out 5 Stars very often. What’s that old saying? “The sun shines on a dog’s ass every now and again”???????

Damn Bloody Rednecks Outstanding debut told from perspective of multiple narrators, primarily mother and daughter, 17 yrs apart. The book has one of the most despicable villains in recent lit. The eponymous quote: 'You grow up feeling the weight of blood, of family. There's no forsaking kin but you can't help when kin forsakes you or when strangers come to be family.'

A suspicious Ozarks mountain town hides an incredibly seedy underside and sets up a showdown between Blood and Love. The mother a Damn Bloody Rednecks Outstanding debut told from perspective of multiple narrators, primarily mother and daughter, 17 yrs apart. The book has one of the most despicable villains in recent lit. The eponymous quote: 'You grow up feeling the weight of blood, of family. There's no forsaking kin but you can't help when kin forsakes you or when strangers come to be family.' A suspicious Ozarks mountain town hides an incredibly seedy underside and sets up a showdown between Blood and Love.

The mother and daughter alternate their stories 17 years apart related to the male villain (one related by blood, the other by marriage) and the trafficking and exploitation of young females in the rural mountain country. The main characters are well developed, but really wins the day here is the suspenseful story and splendid structuring. I didn't want to stop reading until finished. Next up for me, from the top of many lists of best redneck nonfiction, this Billy Ray Cyrus memoir from the early, 'romantic' years: You Never Was My Girl (Butt, You Kindly Stole My Heart). It is interesting to live in the area in which a story is set. Although Henbane is a fictional town in Missouri, Springfield is real and is my own personal stompin' grounds.

Branson is within spittin' distance. Both are mentioned several times in The Weight of Blood. The author captures the tone, the feel, and the landscape of the Ozarks quite well. Clear blue skies, the humidity of the summers (like living in a sponge), and the year round threat of tornadoes are all touched upon in this novel.

S It is interesting to live in the area in which a story is set. Although Henbane is a fictional town in Missouri, Springfield is real and is my own personal stompin' grounds. Branson is within spittin' distance. Both are mentioned several times in The Weight of Blood. The author captures the tone, the feel, and the landscape of the Ozarks quite well. Clear blue skies, the humidity of the summers (like living in a sponge), and the year round threat of tornadoes are all touched upon in this novel.

Small town ties can be strong, the bond of blood and family even more so. This is illustrated perfectly in Laura McHugh's debut novel. The multiple POVs tell the tale without a single stumble. Characterizations are right on - from the despicable Joe Bill Sump to Birdie the midwife to the five church ladies with their identical old woman hairstyles and stiff looks of disapproval. Sadly, a large portion of this story is based on a true happening in Lebanon, Missouri from 2010. The subject matter is not pleasant, but it makes for an engrossing read. I borrowed this from a Goodreads buddy who won it in a giveaway, thank you.

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh. A well written and suspenseful novel and a coming of age story dealing with the mystery of two women one who is murdered and the other who disappeared and both a generation apart. The story about the two women is told in alternation chapters in two different time frames and yet this works very well for this book and the author keeps the story flowing with enough suspense to keep the reader interested and turning those pages. This is a debut novel by Laura McHu The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh. A well written and suspenseful novel and a coming of age story dealing with the mystery of two women one who is murdered and the other who disappeared and both a generation apart. The story about the two women is told in alternation chapters in two different time frames and yet this works very well for this book and the author keeps the story flowing with enough suspense to keep the reader interested and turning those pages.

Milestone Dlk Keygen Music more. This is a debut novel by Laura McHugh and it is very well written with all the elements of suspense, mystery and southern gothic tone of a seasoned writer. I enjoyed the stroy and the secrets that unravelled as the tale unfolded. The characters are cleverly written and the plot is well paced and edgy. An enjoyable read and I will look forward to other books from this author. My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Told in alternating chapters by different voices this is a very dark story set in the Ozarks. Lucy grew up never knowing what happened to her mother but when a friend of hers goes messing she sets out to find answers and what she dines brings the truth back into her own family. A solid suspenseful and atmospheric debut. A novel exploring the ties of blood and exactly how much one will do for family. A fast moving novel that reveals secrets kept and crimes hidden.

How much does one really know abo Told in alternating chapters by different voices this is a very dark story set in the Ozarks. Lucy grew up never knowing what happened to her mother but when a friend of hers goes messing she sets out to find answers and what she dines brings the truth back into her own family.

A solid suspenseful and atmospheric debut. A novel exploring the ties of blood and exactly how much one will do for family. A fast moving novel that reveals secrets kept and crimes hidden. How much does one really know about the people to which one is closest? ARC from Netgalley. Is it just me or does Lucy seem unable to react to what is happening around her.

She finds her uncle is [ trafficking humans, and that her own mother was brought in for the same reason ] and yet she doesn't react like it's something out of the ordinary. From her reaction you'd think it was a common occurrence in her town to [ hold underage girls captive in the locker you've got in your basement. ] Apart from that: [her uncle is Is it just me or does Lucy seem unable to react to what is happening around her.

She finds her uncle is [ trafficking humans, and that her own mother was brought in for the same reason ] and yet she doesn't react like it's something out of the ordinary. From her reaction you'd think it was a common occurrence in her town to [ hold underage girls captive in the locker you've got in your basement. ] Apart from that: [her uncle is shot in front of her, she finds out that she may be his daughter conceived through rape, that he also may have been the one to kill her mother that her father not only knew about the death of her friend, Cheri but also helped in covering it up. ] AND SHE HARDLY BATS AN EYE NOT NORMAL It wasn't bad overall, but you sort of figure out who the bad guy is in the first few pages.and yet at the end of the story you don't feel any sort of closure. I believe it could have been done better. I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is an astonishing book, brilliantly written and both engaging and disturbing at the same time. I was truly lost in the story reading this, unaware of the world around me. I was right there, in the book. This is one of those books that you can't write too much about without giving it all away. The book takes you towards it's reveal and outcomes whilst you hold your breath still wondering w I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is an astonishing book, brilliantly written and both engaging and disturbing at the same time. I was truly lost in the story reading this, unaware of the world around me.

I was right there, in the book. This is one of those books that you can't write too much about without giving it all away. The book takes you towards it's reveal and outcomes whilst you hold your breath still wondering what will be revealed, it didn't let me down. Sixteen year old Lucy Dane is still considered an outsider in the close knit community where she lives. Memories of her Mother, Lila are some of the things she searches for as well as answers, relentlessly seeking answers to questions that people don't want her to ask. Lucy's friend Cheri is found dismembered and placed in a tree.

Lucy decides that she can find who killed her friend and once she finds a necklace that she gave her friend in an abandoned trailer she is determined to find answers. But the town and it's people are a closed book, secrets, lies, blood is thicker than water in the most binding of ways. The book shares different points of view, it cleverly moves between Lucy's perspective and her mother Lina's perspective at the start of the book, sometimes POV transitioning spoils a book, but in The Weight of Blood it just flows, it all connects, it makes sense but reveals not all of it's treasures. This is not a happy book, some of the goings on and the secrets hidden are disturbing and dark.

It makes you wonder a bit about the hearts of men and the minds of those that turn the other way. It's intriguing yet uncomfortable. Lucy's determination to find answers about her mother and her friend Cheri lead her to places that she didn't expect to go, I went on that journey with Lucy and felt everything she did.

An exceptional work of fiction, atmospheric with characters that will stay with you forever, it's a haunting book, memorable and clever and very readable. I am not smiling at the end of the book, not all books have happy endings, but this book was one of the most outstanding reads I have read in quite some time. Five stars plus. Facebook author page: Laura McHugh's debut novel, The Weight of Blood, won an International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel, a Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, and the Missouri Author Award for Fiction. The Weight of Blood was named a best book of the year by BookPage, the Kansas City Star, and the Sunday Times (UK), and was a GoodReads Choice Facebook author page: Laura McHugh's debut novel, The Weight of Blood, won an International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel, a Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, and the Missouri Author Award for Fiction. The Weight of Blood was named a best book of the year by BookPage, the Kansas City Star, and the Sunday Times (UK), and was a GoodReads Choice Awards nominee for Best Mystery and Best Debut.

Her second novel, Arrowood, has been nominated for an International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel. McHugh lives in Missouri with her husband and children.