#Charlottesville

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#Charlottesville

 

Probably to no one’s great surprise, violence has broken out at a white nationalist rally made up of hundreds of extremists who descended upon the college town of Charlottesville to protest the removal of confederate statues. While I was expecting hand to hand fighting, what I didn’t expect was a car mowing down peaceful protesters, killing one and injuring nineteen. 

What has happened is sickening, despicable, and inexcusable. And of course the President was quick to condemn the violence. Oh. Wait. This is Trump. What the HELL was I thinking? After offering a couple of vague platitudes on Twitter earlier today, after this act of domestic terrorism, our Racist-In-Chief finally condemned the violence, blaming it on “many sides”, never mentioning the white nationalists and the alt-right movement. If there is any doubt left in people’s minds as to how racist hate groups view Trump, here’s what David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader, who attended the “Unite the Right” rally had to say:

This represents a turning point for this country. We are determined to take our country back, we’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back and that’s what we gotta do.

There are not “many sides” to what happened in Charlottesville today. Mr. Trump had the chance to take an unequivocal stand against evil and he failed miserably.

*Update – There are now three dead including two state police officers whose helicopter crashed while they were helping monitor the rally.*

Emma In the Night by Wendy Walker ~ 4.5 Stars

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Adult Fiction, Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Families, Mystery, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Psychological Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

320 Pages

Synopsis: One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn’t add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister’s return might just be the beginning of the crime.

We believe what we want to believe. We believe what we need to believe. Maybe there’s no difference between wanting and needing. I don’t know. What I do know is that the truth can evade us, hiding behind our blind spots, our preconceptions, our hungry heart that long for quite. Still, it is always there if we open our eyes and try to see it. If we really try to see.

I knew as soon as I read these chilling opening lines, that I was going to enjoy Emma In the Night, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was completely mesmerized from beginning to end.

The book alternates between Cass and Dr. Abby Winters, the forensic psychiatrist who was originally assigned to the sisters case when they first disappeared three years previously. Starting with the return of Cass, the story brings the reader back to the girls’ childhood and what their lives were like growing up with their mother who has narcissistic personality disorder. From there, what happens slowly comes together, much like a puzzle. From the onset, Cass is an unreliable yet hypnotic narrator which adds to the mystery because you’re constantly wondering if she’s telling the truth. I was so sucked into Cass’s cringe-worthy story that when Abby’s chapters came, they were a little jarring, although necessary to the plot. 

The story itself is full of many twists and turns. There were quite a few times that I thought I’d figured everything out, only to be proven wrong. The only reason why I’m not giving this 5 stars is because I did think the story dragged just a bit at times, especially in the middle. But overall, I really enjoyed Emma In the Night and I highly recommend it to fans of psychological suspense and mysteries filled with sketchy characters.