The Weight of Silence
Heather Gudenkauf, Author . Mira $13.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2740-0
Gudenkauf’s tightly plotted debut packs a lot of unsavory doings into a few unfortunate summer days in Willow Creek, Iowa. Seven-year-old Calli Clark hasn’t spoken a word in the three years since a particularly nasty run-in with her violent, wife-beating father, Griff. During a bender, Griff suddenly decides to haul his mute daughter into the nearby forest, where they get lost. At the same time, Calli’s best friend Petra goes missing, and a manhunt is launched, led by deputy sheriff Loras Louis, who still carries a torch for Calli’s mother. Gudenkauf moves the story forward at a fast clip and is adept at building tension. There’s a particular darkness to her heartland, rife as it is with predators and the walking wounded, and her unsentimental take on the milieu manages to find some hope without being maudlin.
Reviewed on: 06/22/2009
Release date: 07/01/2009
Genre: Fiction
Paperback - 404 pages - 9780778303695
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 384 pages - 9781426837494
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Paperback - 487 pages - 9781410422408
Paperback - 373 pages - 9780778315537
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 9781459248168
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Prebound-Sewn - 373 pages - 9781613832165
Mass Market Paperbound - 416 pages - 9780778319375