Short Take: Does anyone have some OMG’s I can borrow? I seem to have used all of mine.
(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)
Hello my beloved nerdlings, and welcome to Sunday evening! It’s been a pretty low-key weekend in the Nerd House, and you all know what that means: More book reading! The last couple have been a mixed bag, so let’s start with the good stuff, shall we?
Grace DeRoche’s childhood was, shall we say… challenging. As a member of the FLDS cult, she was married off at age thirteen to a horrifically abusive man. Because he was a high-ranking member of the “church” she was forced to endure more than any one person should. That is, until the night when the police raid the compound, and she, along with several other children, run to the police instead of hiding.
The repercussions of that night multiply for decades. The trauma of Grace’s childhood abuse is compounded by survivor’s guilt and fear that she could still be hunted down as a traitor. So it isn’t surprising that she develops Dissociative Identity Disorder, or as it’s more commonly known, multiple personalities. Whenever Grace is frightened or anxious, one of her alters will take over and deal with the situation at hand. The good news for Grace is that she doesn’t have to experience any further fear or trauma, the bad news is that she also has no memory of whatever goes on while her alter is in charge.
So when a few of the other survivors of the cult are murdered, and the evidence points to Grace, well, she can’t exactly deny it, because she has no idea what she has been doing.
Duckies, I loved this book. Our narrators are Grace and Detective Beau Brunelli, who was one of the policemen on the scene of the original cult raid, and is now investigating the murders of the former cult members. Both of these characters are so richly developed, so sympathetic and with so much troubled history. I would read multiple books focused on Beau’s story alone.
I want to say a lot about the pacing (breathless) and the amount of research Ms. Freedman has poured into both the FLDS cult and the psychology of Grace’s trauma (so much fascinating info), but you see, those things aren’t that special or unique. There are plenty of fast-paced, well-researched books out there, and if I’m being super honest, I had about 70% of the big twist figured out well before we got there.
But there’s one aspect of Blood Atonement that, in my opinion, sets it apart from a lot of similar works, and that’s the author’s care in writing about child sexual abuse. I’ve read far too many books that go into entirely too much detail when covering that subject, to the point that it almost feels glorified, if not fetishized. And although more acceptable, there’s also the other end of the spectrum, where the allusions are so vague that it’s difficult to empathize with a character’s struggles in overcoming something that’s never really articulated.
Ms. Freedman, however, manages to thread that very tiny needle. Grace’s experiences in the cult are mostly hidden behind the curtain of her dissociation, but her resulting injuries let us know enough to understand. It’s horrifying without being explicit, which is something that not many authors can pull off.
Seriously, I can’t recommend this book enough. Just make sure you clear your schedule, because you won’t want to put it down.
The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and spice cake with maple frosting. If anyone has a good recipe, hook me up!)
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