Tawni O'Dell

This book had me lying awake with my chest aching for an hour after the last page. It was haunting. Devastating. Real.

I thought I had it all figured out, but O'Dell pulled the rug out from under my feet more than once.

Some reviewers claimed to not 'get' Harley as a character or called him too violent or unlikable... To that I say, sometimes a story is just too ugly for people not to look away from it. If nothing else, these characters were tragically, gutwrenchingly human.

Put yourself in the show more shoes of a 19 year old boy who has been abused his entire life. Rather than being granted the freedom of adulthood, he's trapped to care for his 3 younger sisters and virtually abandoned by the system.

Rage becomes natural as Harley fights to keep them alive and striving towards normal, working two dead end jobs just to put cereal and nuked hotdogs on the table.

The girls are equally and uniquely broken by their experiences, so there is no comfort to be found in each other and all four suffer because of it.

Its easy to forget about a few kids out in the backwoods of a Pennsylvania coal mining town. Certainly easier than having to watch. That seems to be one thing we can all agree on, because there are no spectators as their home and the very fabric of their relationships begin to decay.

Except, maybe, for the married woman next door, who sees Harley's struggle and shows him the first human tenderness hes experienced since his mother.

O'Dell doesn't wrap this one up into a neat little package for us and save the day. She says - Tough luck. This is real life, and sometimes real life isn't good or fair in the end. show less

4.5 stars.

Despite plenty of dysfunction, despair and dark secrets, Angels Burning by Tawni O'Dell is a surprisingly light-hearted yet sometimes heartbreaking mystery set in a small Pennsylvania town.

Police Chief Dove Carnahan is shaken by the discovery of a burned body in the nearby abandoned mining town of Campbell's Run but she is horrified to learn the victim is seventeen year old Camio Truly. Camio's family is well-known for its frequent brushes with the law and somewhat tragic deaths, show more but Dove is stunned by their lack of interest in bringing Camio's killer to justice. Stonewalled at every turn by the largely apathetic clan, Dove, along with State Police Detective Nolan Greely, unearth the family's well-concealed secrets but is the information they discover a motive for murder? And if it is, is someone in the family Camio's killer?

Although Dove is no stranger to dysfunction or tragedy, she does not let the past define her. Her neglectful but beautiful mother was brutally murdered when Dove was a teenager but she and her sister, Neely, have forged successful lives in the years since the crime. Unfortunately, their younger brother, Champ, has not fared as well as his sisters but when he turns up out of the blue after a decades' long absence, the sisters are hopeful they can repair their distant relationship. Champ's return and the murder investigation coincide with the release of Dove's mother's killer from prison and all of these events combined resurrect painful memories from her distant past but she remains committed to finding the person who murdered Camio.

Despite the lack of crime in the small town, Dove is an excellent investigator and she has an insider's perspective of how her community works. She is keenly observant and empathetic but she also becomes very impatient with the Truly family's lack of cooperation. Although her methods are occasionally a bit unorthodox, Dove uncovers valuable evidence that changes the course of the investigation. While troubled by the brewing problems in her personal life, Dove never loses focus of the task at hand and she eventually breaks the case wide open.

Poignant with an undercurrent of despair, Angels Burning is more than a mystery. This complex story has a cast of deeply flawed yet surprisingly sympathetic characters that are well-drawn and personable. The novel is intricately plotted with seemingly complicated storylines yet when the truth is finally revealed, reasons and motives are shockingly simple and easy to relate to. Another absolutely stellar novel by Tawni O'Dell that offers an intuitive and discerning peek into the seamier side of life in rural America. show less

Is "Gone Girl" going to be the trend now? Terrifically well written crime thrillers that spill the beans in the early pages?

I enjoy the classical approach which invites the reader to solve a mystery and so I am not 100% behind Ms O'Dell's early reveal of the killer's identity. I admit, though, that it would be hard to ensnare this particular killer using a more conventional approach. This minor protest aside, I enjoyed the story. Sheridan Doyle and his family are well drawn, as is the show more community of Lost Creek, PA. I hope we will meet Sheridan again soon.

I received an uncorrected advance review copy of "One of Us" by Tawni O'Dell (Gallery Books). I hope the verb "hanged" has been substituted for "hung" in the final edition. show less

This book had me lying awake with my chest aching for an hour after the last page. It was haunting. Devastating. Real.

I thought I had it all figured out, but O'Dell pulled the rug out from under my feet more than once.

Some reviewers claimed to not 'get' Harley as a character or called him too violent or unlikable... To that I say, sometimes a story is just too ugly for people not to look away from it. If nothing else, these characters were tragically, gutwrenchingly human.

Put yourself in the show more shoes of a 19 year old boy who has been abused his entire life. Rather than being granted the freedom of adulthood, he's trapped to care for his 3 younger sisters and virtually abandoned by the system.

Rage becomes natural as Harley fights to keep them alive and striving towards normal, working two dead end jobs just to put cereal and nuked hotdogs on the table.

The girls are equally and uniquely broken by their experiences, so there is no comfort to be found in each other and all four suffer because of it.

Its easy to forget about a few kids out in the backwoods of a Pennsylvania coal mining town. Certainly easier than having to watch. That seems to be one thing we can all agree on, because there are no spectators as their home and the very fabric of their relationships begin to decay.

Except, maybe, for the married woman next door, who sees Harley's struggle and shows him the first human tenderness hes experienced since his mother.

O'Dell doesn't wrap this one up into a neat little package for us and save the day. She says - Tough luck. This is real life, and sometimes real life isn't good or fair in the end. show less