Editorial Content for Safe and Sound
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2015 saw the release of Laura McHugh’s powerhouse of a debut, THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD. It won numerous awards, including the prestigious International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel.
Since then, McHugh has carved out a niche in the mystery/thriller genre, which is all due to the elements that she consistently utilizes. When you are reading a book of hers, you know that you are going to experience the following: domestic and family relationships (sometimes not the pillar of strength you expect but the reason for the issue); small-town miasma (there are many limitations to living in a small town, and McHugh knows how to expose the darkest of them); and complex characters (she is incapable of creating a character who does not live and breathe off the page and come across as completely believable).
"I applaud [McHugh] for continuing to crank out these dark, small-town tales where wasting away in your own broken and crushed dreams may be the biggest fear of all."
With the release of her latest novel, SAFE AND SOUND, McHugh falls back on all the storytelling elements that have made her successful and tops them with a new feeling --- that of hopelessness. I am sure some readers may be turned off by this sentiment, but McHugh knows what she is doing and blends this overpowering and crippling feeling to full extent here. This is no “cozy” mystery by any stretch of the imagination.
At the start of the novel, Grace has been missing for nearly six years. She was babysitting her cousins, Amelia and Kylee, when she vanished from their farmhouse, leaving behind blood in the kitchen. Thankfully, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their bedroom. They are now in their senior year of high school and have some big decisions to make. In the small town of Beaumont, Missouri, the future is never promised to you and often ends the same for most members of the community.
Amelia (who handles the bulk of the narration) and Kylee are still seeking the answers that never came regarding Grace’s disappearance. Grace was smart, intuitive and perfect in their eyes, and not knowing what happened to her haunts them on a daily basis. She emphasized to them the fear of being trapped by Beaumont and smothered in a way that nearly every citizen has been. She had been making plans to ensure this would not happen to her.
But Grace not having a chance to fulfill those goals --- and, even worse, not being able to show Ameila and Kylee how she did it --- is the real tragedy of this novel. Grace’s family and those who remember her continue to mourn her through vigils around the anniversary of her disappearance, but it doesn’t solve anything or provide the solace that her cousins so badly need.
When bones are uncovered that might be Grace’s, Amelia and Kylee decide to take action. They contact the local law enforcement team for answers, and all of this new activity briefly takes them away from the blueprints they have created for their big senior year. Hopefully, those blueprints will give them the pathway to escaping Beaumont. The problem is that they are preoccupied with the mystery surrounding Grace and need to have closure before they can solve their own mysteries of life.
SAFE AND SOUND will not resound with every reader, and that is because of the ending, which I will not discuss here. I will just say that Laura McHugh remains true to herself and her novel. She recognizes that not everyone’s story works out the way they thought it would. I applaud her for continuing to crank out these dark, small-town tales where wasting away in your own broken and crushed dreams may be the biggest fear of all.
Teaser
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving blood all over the kitchen. Grace, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and working at the meatpacking plant, had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better. Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about fleeing Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace --- but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.
Promo
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving blood all over the kitchen. Grace, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and working at the meatpacking plant, had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better. Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about fleeing Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace --- but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.
About the Book
Six years after their cousin vanished from their home while they were sleeping, two sisters set out to learn the truth behind what happened --- even if it puts their own lives in danger --- in this haunting thriller from the internationally bestselling author of WHAT'S DONE IN DARKNESS.
In a town no one ever leaves, there are only so many places to hide.
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving blood all over the kitchen. Grace, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and working at the meatpacking plant, had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better.
Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about fleeing Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace --- but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.
Amelia and Kylee vow to find Grace, dead or alive. But as they draw closer to the truth and slip further into danger, they question how far someone would go to put a woman in her place, or to cover up a crime. The answer is worse than they could have imagined, and in the end, it won’t just be Grace they’re trying to save --- they’ll have to fight for their lives.
Audiobook available, read by Jorjeana Marie
