The Weight of Blood

Gripping. The only word that truly does this novel justice. The characters grip to your moral fibers (either in a good or bad way), the plot grips to your inner compass of what's right and wrong, and you find yourself in a hard place, there is nothing to do but finish this book RIGHT NOW. McHugh dramatically and accurately describes the possibilities of what can happen in the dark places of the Ozarks (or any other sparsely located area in our country). Half way through this book you will find yourself clinging to your own children, because the way that McHugh describes a mother's love in this book obviously comes from experience. Lucy and Lila are character's that will stick with you through the test of time, weeks after reading this show more (the first time through, as I'm sure I'll pick it up again) I still find myself thinking about this novel (even while reading OTHER novels).
This book leaves the reader asking real questions, primarily, family or doing what's right? It's not nearly as easy as what you would think... show less

In her impressive first novel, McHugh explores the age-old themes of love, desire, jealousy, and revenge, played out in rural Missouri. Seventeen year old Lucy Dane has just started her summer of work at her uncle's store, Dane's (an eatery and bait shop) on the river before her senior year of high school in small-town Henbane. Lucy is looking forward to a summer working with her crush Daniel, so that she might forget for awhile the mysterious disappearance of her mother sixteen years ago and the recent murder of her childhood friend Cheri. Cheri, a developmentally challenged young woman, was brutally murdered, butchered, and left in the hollow tree outside her uncle's store last year. Lucy is horrified and intrigued when she finds show more Cheri's necklace in her uncle's old trailer when he sends her out there to clean it up for resale. Could Uncle Crete have something to do with the murder? Lucy's investigation into Cheri's disappearance and murder dredges up older, darker secrets, and Lucy begins to revisit her mother Lila's disappearance as well. But in the superstitious `hollers' of the backwoods Ozarks, when you turn over a rock, dark things slither out.

The southern gothic tone contributes to the atmosphere of decay, darkness, and secrets running through the novel. McHugh adds suspense by doling out her mystery in split narratives. The first part of the book shifts back and forth from Lucy to her mother Lila, a hauntingly beautiful woman both loved and feared by the townspeople before her disappearance 16 years ago. Lucy has inherited her mother's unearthly beauty, and its consequences. The townspeople accept her as one of their own, but they haven't forgotten her half-Other heritage. Folks whispered that her mother was a witch, and they are leery of Lucy as well. In part two, a number of other narrators appear, enriching the mystery and adding perspective. In part three, Lila's narrative voice has disappeared along with her character, and we reach a resolution through Lucy, neighbor Birdie, and others. By giving a number of her characters a chance to speak, McHugh allows internal monologues to be revealed, offering more nuances to her plot than first person Lucy alone could have provided. This strategy challenges our sympathies, and reminds us that there are no easy villains and heroes in real life.

Though this book is marketed as a mystery-thriller in the vein of Gillian Flynn, the comparison is somewhat misleading. This is a mystery, but it is also a rumination on women and their (often painful) experiences. The rural Missouri setting allows McHugh to explore sexism and misogyny in an isolated environment, highlighting just how trapped and option-less some of these women are. There are women forced into prostitution from necessity, while others are trafficked. Poor dead Cheri was mentally ill, living with a negligent parent, and when she disappears, no one can blame her, but no one goes looking for her either. Girls get pregnant in high school and are forced into the same patterns as their parents: dead end job, no chance of a better life. Elderly women are forced to depend on powerful men for continued livelihood. Pretty girls are suspect creatures, their bodies the ground upon which men enact revenge: revenge for spurning men who feel they deserve access to any woman they desire, revenge in homosocial struggles between men for power. There's no escape for these women. The terrible realities these women face are opened up for the reader: drugs are an escape, abortion is not an option, and putting up with horrible men is sometimes the only way to put food on the table. Outsiders (the mentally ill, newcomers to town, the very poor) are even more at risk - they are a vulnerable population that can be abused and `disappeared' with no consequences. A woman cannot turn to the police, because the police are townspeople. A woman cannot turn to other women, because they face consequences for getting involved. Close-knit communities are hotbeds for violence against women and the suppression of it. The name of the town is symbolic, henbane being a deadly poison, and like its name, Henbane is conceals danger in its pleasant exterior.

In Lucy, McHugh creates a likeable young woman with ingénue, naïve Nancy Drew appeal. She has curiosity about the world, compassion, and a healthy understanding of the world's dangers as well. She's a clever sleuth. McHugh does make use of some sexist stereotypes in her construction of the relationship between Lucy and her friend Bess: they are the virgin and the whore, respectively. Some of the plot is moved forward because of Bess' sexual predilections, and Lucy is admired for her purity, standing out from the other women in town. Aside from this too-easy stereotyped characterization, Lucy's character is well-drawn. She investigates Cheri's murder without taking very stupid risks (though a few times we may question her judgment). The plot description set by the publishing company suggests that this will be a coming-of-age tale with a large love story component through boyfriend Daniel, but (to my relief) the romance is a negligible aspect of the novel. One criticism I did have was with the characterization of the criminal element. This is the backwoods, the hills. There are human traffickers, drug pushers, meth cookers, and gun-runners, and yet the danger did not feel very real. Also frustrating were the number of times resolution or revelation could have been reached if only the characters were willing to offer their information, or be honest about various events. Tension is created, but occasionally at the expense of verisimilitude.

"The Weight of Blood" is a fast-paced mystery, but also a thought-provoking book. We are asked to question tacit acceptance of violence against women, the problematic nature of close-knit communities, and what makes a family - blood ties, or the family you build and protect? Aside from some stereotypes in characterization, this was a highly enjoyable novel. show less

Seventeen-year-old Lucy Dane has suffered more than her fair share of tragedies in her young life. Her mother, Lila, disappeared without a trace when she was a child and a year ago, her friend Cheri vanished in much the same way. But now Cheri’s mutilated body has turned up in a tree across the river from Lucy’s family’s business. It is where the body was found more than the murder itself that the residents of the fictional town of Henbane, Missouri find most unsettling:

“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 show more was that lack of adherence to tradition 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 home-grown criminal could.”

When Lucy discovers a locket that had belonged to Cherie in an abandoned trailer, she and Daniel, a local boy, set out to investigate the disappearance and murder of the girl. But, as they follow the clues, it becomes clear that the perpetrator was no outsider but someone much much closer to home.

Set in the Ozarks and peopled with wonderfully drawn characters with names like Ransome and Crete, the story is told from several view points, mostly in first person by Lucy and Lila, but occasionally by another character in the third person. This is the impressive debut novel of author Laura McHugh and it is one heck of a suspenseful and engrossing tale of murder and family secrets kept hidden by the weight of blood and kinship set against the strength of relationships linked simply by love and the desire to protect that finally force those secrets out into the open. Beautifully written and suffused with the mystery and superstitious lore of the hills, The Weight of Blood explores the horrors of human trafficking with compassion and insight and is guaranteed to be found on ‘Best of ‘ lists throughout the year. show less

There are two main themes at play within The Weight of Blood. One is that one’s family is the most important force in the world. Every character mentions this at some point during their narrative, and the story itself confirms this in the revelations of the Dane family secrets and Lila’s mysterious disappearance. The other theme is that the definition of family is more than just blood relations. This particular theme is less obvious but there nonetheless as it too is something which dawns on each of the characters at one point or another. The nature of the familial bond, whether by blood or something else, is fierce and nearly impenetrable, as the Dane brothers would have one believe. However, as each character releases secrets, the show more reader begins to question the validity of such bonds and whether there is a time where familial loyalty does more harm than good.

The Weight of Blood is unique in that no one but the reader uncovers the full body of secrets within Henbane. Each narrator carries one piece of the puzzle so that by the time the story ends, only the reader has all of the pieces necessary to fill in the gaps left by Lucy’s inexpert detective work and the ravages of time against evidence. This storytelling method also generates within a reader an entire range of strong emotions – from relief that Lucy does not discover the full truth to anger that there is a distinct lack of justice and more. The intense emotional responses also indicate a strong engagement by the reader with Lucy and Lila, two young women bound up in a situation neither one imagined or expected. The fact that both women are missing key elements of their family serves to heighten one’s awareness to the main themes.

For a teenage heroine, Lucy is a refreshing piece of fiction even though one knows that a heroine needs to be distinctly different from the rest of the cast in order to generate the appropriate emotional connection with a reader. For a motherless girl growing up in the heart of Ozark country with its abject poverty and lack of opportunities, it would be so easy for Lucy to fall prey to the same pressures and limitations that befall most of the cast. However, if she were to do so, she would no longer be the sympathetic figure that she is. Still, she does not get caught up in the drinking/partying scene. She listens and respects her father and her uncle. She has a remarkably calm and collected head on her shoulders. She remains loyal but knows her boundaries. She is not boy-crazy, and she actually follows the rules set by the adult figures in her life. She may be somewhat of a cliché but at least she is not a total cliché of a teenage girl from a remote and poverty-stricken town. This makes it so easy to fall for her loneliness and sympathize with her desire to learn more about her mother’s fate.

The writing within The Weight of Blood is taut and surprisingly sparse. Ms. McHugh focuses her energy on the big pieces of the puzzle, letting the reader’s imagination fill in certain details. Since a reader will almost always imagine something much worse than anything a writer can put down on paper, this works in the story’s favor. It also allows Ms. McHugh to flesh out the major characters. In spite of a scarcity of words and descriptions, the setting is vibrant and disturbing in its general air of complicity, intolerance of outsiders, and acceptance of secrets.

The Weight of Blood is the type of novel that leaves one disturbed by the evils which one person can inflict on another and the blind eye everyone can turn in favor of maintaining the status quo. The location of Henbane in the remotest part of the Ozarks plays a major factor in the tone of the novel because of its isolation and its overall foreignness from urban life. The lengths to which people will go to protect loved ones and the creepy atmosphere of an unforgiving town combine to create an exciting and yet highly uncomfortable thriller that makes one question the skeletons that may exist in his or her own family closet. show less

The Weight of Blood is a surprisingly accomplished first novel by Laura McHugh. Set in the rural Ozarks, it is the mystery of two women a generation apart, caught up in a small town where secrets tend to stay buried.

McHugh creates an exceptional sense of atmosphere. She captures the rural setting in all its beauty and its menace. She pulls you deeply into the story and it takes you awhile to reemerge once you set the book down, which is not easy to do. The pages fly by and can easily be devoured in one sitting.

When Lucy’s friend Cheri’s cut up body is found in the river near the center of town, Lucy is one of the few, if not the only, person who continues to care what happened to her. Searching for answers to Cheri’s disappearance show more and murder leads Lucy to wonder about her own mother Lila’s disappearance when Lucy was a baby.

The story alternates between the Lucy’s present and Lila’s arrival in town nearly 20 years earlier. Both timelines are thoroughly engrossing and as they come together the pace continues to heat up. McHugh does a wonderful job of creating fleshed out characters and an even better job of making you feel the menace, both subtle and overt that exists in the tight-knit community.

This book is both deeply chilling and deeply moving. The characters are real and complicated. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. It will stay with you. A powerful novel. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book. show less

For some reason I keep reading books about the Ozarks, which is weird because I went there for the first time a little over a month ago. I'm not seeing out books about the Ozarks, but they keep finding me.

Anyway, this was horrific and beautiful. I was maybe the only person in my book club who liked it, but I'm also the only person in my book club who can see past an off-putting subject matter to the really great writing and story telling within. This is maybe the only book I've read that successfully uses an alternating narrator structure, and for that alone it deserves five stars.

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh is a riveting, spellbinding, very highly recommended novel of suspense.

Despite the fact that seventeen-year-old Lucy Dane has lived her whole life in small Missouri Ozarks town of Henbane with her father, Carl, and near her uncle, Crete, she has spent most of her life wondering what happened to her mother and why she disappeared. No one in Henbane has forgotten that her mother, Lila, was a foreigner, "that she had come from someplace else, even if that place was only Iowa. Some folks didn’t think it possible that the cornfields and snowdrifts of the North had produced a creature as mysterious as my mother, so they had crafted origin myths involving Gypsies and wolves." All Lucy really knows is that show more eighteen years ago Lila met Carl when she came to Henbane to work for Crete Dane. When Lucy was a year old her mother "walked into the inky limestone labyrinth of Old Scratch Cavern with my father’s derringer pistol and never returned."

Lucy is now wondering why the body of her mentally challenged friend, Cherie, who disappeared a year ago, is suddenly found murdered and dismembered. Before the murder of Cheri, Lila's disappearance had been the biggest mystery in town.

"The whole town jittered with nervous speculation, wondering where she’d been for that missing year and why she’d turned up now. 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."

Armed only with a burning desire to discover the truth about what happened to Cheri, as well as her ongoing search for answers about her mother, Lucy unknowingly begins to uncover a tangled web of deceit, corruption, and evil that puts her own life in jeopardy.

The novel is divided into three parts. In the first part the narrative alternates between Lucy's current life and that of her mother, Lila. After introducing the cast of characters and the role many of them played in the past and present, chapters in parts II and III of The Weight of Blood are told through the point of view of a wide variety of characters. Since we are exposed to multiple viewpoints and background information, a picture of a dark underbelly of the town emerges. Secrets have been kept for years, allowing evil to flourish. Perhaps there is a reason the town is named Hensbane, another name for nightshade, or the devil’s weed.

This is a remarkably well written debut novel for McHugh and I was engrossed in it from beginning to end. While there are plenty of descriptions that help enhance the mental pictures of the area, the action continues on at a good pace while the tension is allowed to build as more information is revealed. It becomes clear that Lucy may not be safe and that everything may not be exactly what she thinks. I'll be looking for future novels by McHugh.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House for review purposes. show less