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Laura McHugh

Autor von The Weight of Blood: A Novel

5 Werke 1,440 Mitglieder 210 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 1 Lesern

Über den Autor

Laura McHugh is an Australian author who won an International Thriller Award 2015 in the Best First Novel category with her title, The Weight of Blood. (Bowker Author Biography)

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Werke von Laura McHugh

The Weight of Blood: A Novel (2014) 825 Exemplare
Arrowood (2016) 324 Exemplare
The Wolf Wants In (2019) 170 Exemplare
What's Done in Darkness (2021) 104 Exemplare
Safe and Sound: A Novel (2024) 17 Exemplare

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Wissenswertes

Geschlecht
female
Nationalität
USA
Geburtsort
Fort Madison, Iowa, USA

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Laura McHugh has just released her new book - Safe and Sound. I really enjoyed her debut novel, The Weight of Water. (my review) And I really enjoyed Safe and Sound as well.
McHugh again does a brilliant job of building the setting. Beaumont Missouri is a small town that the younger residents can't wait to leave. There's a heaviness to the town, dusty, dirty and worn with nothing to redeem it. Some folks get out - with a sigh of relief. Some stay. And some go missing...

Sisters Amelia and Kylee's older cousin Grace, is one of the missing. The girls are determined once again to try and find out what happened to her. Someone has to know something. And yes, omeone does indeed know something...

McHugh's prose are dark and gritty. There are moments where the sun shines through, letting hope in. And times where the 'wrong' comes to visit.

The plotting was excellent - with a finale that I couldn't predict. The ending was apt and right - I wish I knew what happened after the last page. An excellent read for me.
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Twink | 3 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 30, 2024 |
The first half was pretty good although it's easy to figure out whats going on. The second half every chapter gets more unbelievable and ridiculous than the one before.
 
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flippinpages | 113 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 28, 2024 |
Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh is a very highly recommended mystery following two sisters trying to find out the truth behind their older cousin's disappearance from their home in Beaumont, Missouri.

Amelia(Mimi) and Kylee were found safe upstairs in their bedroom when their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, disappeared. The sisters are now getting ready to leave the dead-end small town of Beaumont after high school graduation, just as Grace always told them to do. When the remains of a young woman are found on a piece of property outside of town, the sisters immediately wonder if it is Grace. There was so much blood found in the kitchen that night... As the girls begin to look into the identity of the body found they must continue to survive in a town that is cruel to young women and hope.

The narrative is told in the present day through chapters from the point-of-view of Amelia and Kylee while alternating chapters have the events from the past unfolding through Grace's point-of-view. This was a very effective plot device which serves to keep tensions high in both time periods. Readers know Grace disappears and is presumed dead due to the amount of blood at the scene. Seeing Grace grow up and her absolute devotion to her younger cousins establishes the close bond between the cousins. They were really as close as sisters.

Grace, Amelia, and Kylee are all believable, fully realized characters and you will want the best for them even while Grace is experiencing horrors of abuse by an uncle. There are so many layers of secrets lurking in both their families and with their friends. Additionally, the setting is a major character. Beaumont is a hard-scrabble, dead-end town where the best job is at the meat packing plant and it seems everyone is just barely scraping by.
The writing is absolutely wonderful, both descriptive and emotional. I marked several quotes, including one from an elderly former teacher, Mrs. Mummer: "When you're dying, Amelia, you remember your regrets. They crop up like stones in the river when the water gets low. Try to have as few as possible." For such a dark and desperate story there was one discussion that had me laughing, as it will others who know the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. (Condensing the discussion: What do you think it'll it be like? Living someplace else? / Probably something like when Dorothy lands in Oz. / Great. Maybe we'll get hearts and brains and courage. / That's only if you're from Kansas. We're from Missouri. We'll be lucky to get a can of Bud Light and a bootstrap.)

The final denouement was shocking and surprising, but also felt a bit incomplete. 4.5 Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/04/safe-and-sound.html
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SheTreadsSoftly | 3 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 14, 2024 |
This was another excellent mystery/thriller/family drama from Laura McHugh. I loved the dual timelines of Grace in the past and Kylee & Amelia in the present, trying to figure out what happened to her. Some of Grace's chapters were very hard to read - the abuse she suffered was so awful. I would have liked an epilogue to give some closure to the characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.
 
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susan.h.schofield | 3 weitere Rezensionen | Mar 21, 2024 |

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Werke
5
Mitglieder
1,440
Beliebtheit
#17,855
Bewertung
3.8
Rezensionen
210
ISBNs
54
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2
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