Black-lands
![rip7200[1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8MmbjhW70gRS7Sw7R3Ovgqpp8rOKri2x6UAYDHTr_FrTg_sUDJ2tZGfcUtBP_x0NwQSSelaPEgU2Lus3cJ4ONzLxUbdX-NuY5_0arxWjjAfUM8eGoxEKfU180BtS0bA3p_eoa/s1600-h/rip720012.jpg "rip7200[1]")
(book 9 for RIP)
Black-lands by Belinda Bauer.
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster(January 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1439149453
![blacklands[1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZqb3NYnAwACoW5CgsVn9q2G60iO-QEjcLceMk-RMfjZSS91oMttrAvnh9tSxOY5XrGOvaaFohWNfB-Q4xd9oY9oTrEpRgfXbUrdZrjWgRc4KmOlS0sRUHpyKUerYwMwSUb3Ev/s1600-h/blacklands13.jpg "blacklands[1]")
Book Description
EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered—after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy’s mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her.
But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle’s corpse, he’ll do it.
Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose.
Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration . . . Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P."—William "Billy" Peters.
So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game.
Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he’s receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too.
Although his is far more dangerous . . .
Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.
wow!… talk about a psychological thriller!
Talk about getting into a child’s mind.
Talk about getting into a killers mind!
Talk about a lot packed into a small book!
Childhood sorrows. Bullying. and a Serial Murder. You can’t pack much more into a short book than that. So if you like getting into the head of the main characters and you enjoy solving problems… you will like this book.
Add to that that most of the story takes place on Exmoor and some on Dartmoor.. and you have yourself a story even Sherlock Holmes would be proud of.
The Amazon review pretty much lays out the book but even knowing all of that this is a book that will get into your head until it’s over.
This is book 9 for RIP and I think it’s the most intense book I’ve read in a long time.
posted by DesLily | 11:55 AM
4 Comments:
Exmoor and Dartmoor? I shall go look this one up in a moment as it sounds like the kind of psychological mystery I enjoy.
Sounds awesome, and that cover is very simple but very effective. I like it. Nothing like a good intense book to wind up the last week of RIP. As always, I can't believe it has passed by so quickly.
It was scary, wasn't it? I really enjoyed it too when I read it last year. (2 years ago? time flies!) A book that I couldn't put down or look away from, either. The ending is something else, too. You are having so much fun with this challenge, Pat!!
This sounds really good - and there's a copy in my library along with a few other titles by this author! I will definitely read this one and maybe look at some of the others.
Lynn :D
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