Rainer Maria Rilke

"Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you a thousand and a thousand times, and however your life may turn,-it will, I am certain of it, run through the fabric of your growth as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys."--Rainer Maia Rilke


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Monday, March 12, 2012

Lots of Meat in This Crime Thriller

The Sausage Maker's Daughters by AGS Johnson
(Adult Thriller)

Every story, and sausage, should have a spicy recipe:  This story is part drama, part courtroom thriller with just the right amount of betrayal, secrecy and tragedy thrown in for a great read.

Kip is the youngest of four daughters of a famed sausage maker in Wisconsin.  Her mother died quite young and each member of the family still struggles with that loss.  At the very beginning of the story, Kip is arrested for the murder of her brother-in-law and ex-lover.  He is found dead and aroused in Kip's bed with her standing beside him, dripping wet and confused.

What follows is a series of flashbacks that showcases how all these young women dealt, or didn't deal, with losing their mother so young.  Through it all, the reader is pulled along, becoming so involved in the family drama that you almost forget there is a mystery to solve.

At first, I though the background of the book seemed a bit tedious, but when the trial of Kip begins, I saw how very necessary all the details were.  The pace of the story skyrockets during the second half, the trial part of the book, and speeds along so quickly that it became impossible to put the book down. 

And, at the end, I discovered that the mystery and trial of Kip wasn't the real focus of the book at all, but the completely dysfunctional family that was absolutely riveting to the last period in the story.

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