Close To The Broken Hearted by Michael Hiebert

 

Close To The Broken Hearted is set in the same fictional small town of Alvin, Alabama as the author's previous novel Dream With Little Angels. Detective Leah Teal has been receiving lots of calls at the station from young mother Sylvie Carson, her colleague Chris thinks she's phoning with false alarms and is crazy but as stranger things start happening Leah isn't so sure. Years ago, during an argument over land, Sylvie watched as her three year old brother was shot dead by Preacher Eli. He's just been released from prison, could he be behind it all?

 

As well as having this to deal with Leah is also bringing up her two children, fifteen year old Caroline and twelve year old Abe, alone. Her husband was killed in a car crash ten years ago and now Abe's twelve he's asking more and more questions about his Dad.

 

I enjoyed Dream With Little Angels so was delighted to see the author had written another novel surrounding the same characters. Indeed for me the story is as much about the relationship between Abe and his mother as it is the crime that needs to be solved. The prologue is as heartbreaking as anything else I've read before and Michael Hiebert is a very good storyteller, I hope this isn't the last book about the Teal family, it would be lovely to meet them all again.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for my copy in return for an honest review.

 

Published by Kensington on 24th June 2014