The Reckoning Stones:
A Novel of Suspense
Mystery
Setting – Colorado
Midnight Ink (September 8, 2015)
Cover Design – Lisa Novak
Paperback: 360 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0738745114
E-Book ASIN: B013J68VZW
After accusing the pastor of her close-knit religious community of molesting her, fourteen-year-old Mercy Asher is branded a liar and publicly humiliated. She runs away on the night someone beats the pastor into a coma and kills his wife.
Two decades later, Mercy has become Iris Dashwood, an emotionally troubled but brilliant jeweler. She thinks she’s in control of her life until news of Pastor Matt’s miraculous awakening broadsides her and leaves her unable to design. Iris returns to Lone Pine, Colorado, determined to confront her past to restore her creativity.
Iris reconnects with her mother, best friend, and boyfriend who harbor secrets she must unearth to find a killer. In the final reckoning, the truth may cost more than she anticipates. Will it bring redemption…or devastation?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Lone Pine, Colorado is home to the Community. A religious group based out of the God’s Community of Believers and Disciples Church. Mercy Asher left Lone Pine and the Community behind after years of molestation by the pastor of the church. No one believed her when she confessed to her abuse and she was the one punished. She couldn’t stand to stay somewhere where it seemed even her own family thought she was lying. But someone must have knew she was telling the truth because on the night she ran away someone beat the pastor almost to death and his wife is found dead. The pastor has been in a coma ever since.
Mercy has moved on, traveling from place to place. She is Iris Dashwood now and has become a well known jeweler. She creates amazing pieces that are true works of art. Everything is going fine until she learns the pastor had a miracle recovery and after 20+ years later awakens from him coma. She is unable to think of anything else, her creativity is gone and she knows she has to confront the man who ruined her life. She hasn’t seen or communicated with her family and friends since the day she left. She has no idea what kind of welcome she will receive but she has to go back to Lone Pine.
This is a gripping story will serious topics. The cult like church, the abuse and molestation, secrets, lies and murder. I knew the author from her cozy mysteries. Let me tell you there is nothing cozy about this story. The people of Lone Pine had blind faith when it came to the pastors and the elders. They followed and were brainwashed and even those that knew the truth stood silent.
This has to be the best thing Laura DiSilverio has written. She grabs you by the collar with the prologue and doesn’t let go until the last word. The first twist was good but the last twist would rate a 10 on the Richter Scale.
I grieved for Mercy for what she endured and then suffered again as a young runaway. Her life was so tortured after what that man did to her and then to have no support from anyone until she connected with someone that saved her. She was saved but she was still so broken.
This story is one that will stick with you a long time, especially when you know places like Lone Pine actually exist.
Great character development and a super strong plot will definitely land this book on my Best Reads of 2015 list.
You can find out more about Laura and her books on her webpage here.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Looking for this one…Thanks.