A Review OF A Kind Of Hush By JoDee Neathery

• ASIN: ‎ B098M282NP
• Publisher: ‎ Imagery Lit (3 July 2021)
• Language: ‎ English
• Print length: ‎ 340 pages
• Genre: Literary Fiction

SUMMARY:

A Kind of Hush examines how life is seldom a tidy affair exploring whether there is a gray area between right and wrong. Matt and Summer Mackie with children Willa and Gabe are enjoying a June outing at nearby Zoar Valley Gorge, an area showcasing waterfalls, forests, shale cliffs, and a whitewater creek running through the ravine, when tragedy strikes. One parent survives along with their teenage daughter and seven-year-old son found hiding in the nearby woods. Was this a tragic accident or something more heinous, and if so, whodunnit and whydunit?

The BookViral Review:

A novel with many meaningful messages strewn throughout we are left in little doubt as to the calibre of the author behind the pen with few so adept at capturing the emotions of their characters as JoDee Neathery.

Writing with directness and such a good ear for everyday speech that her characters seem real and plausible after only a few words, her cast of characters is uniformly strong as they sidestep genre clichés to create a rare sense of vibrancy.

The result is a novel of intense fascination. We understand quickly enough who Neathery’s characters are and what their lives are like, but we have no idea how they will behave because so much depends on the unknown circumstances of Summers’s death. But where far too many novels seem to enact rituals with plot lines and variations to watch out for A Kind Of Hush taps into the accidental nature of life and the unscripted tragedies that often shapes it.

On this level, A Kind Of Hush is a brilliant depiction of love, loss and familial ties that manages to be witty, warm, uplifting, and, just when you thought you were safe, utterly heartbreaking. It’s here that Neathery invites us to peer closely at each of her main characters, wanting us to know them as individuals as opposed to bit players in Gabe’s life, with each chapter conveying something tangible and notable. And encouraging us to reflect on how far we would go to protect the ones we love.

A beautifully written novel and a superb follow up to Neathery’s Life In A Box, A Kind Of Hush is an unreservedly recommended five star read.