All The Broken People

All The Broken People
By Amy Rivers
Description
Alice Bennett knows what it means to suffer. After burying her abusive childhood and reinventing herself, Alice is living a life she never imagined could be hers. She's married to a perfect Southern gentleman. She has a challenging job she loves--writing for a woman's magazine. But when her past comes back with a vengeance, Alice finds herself on the outs with her husband, her perfect life crumbling around her feet.

Desperate to get things back to where they were, Alice, travels to the mountains of North Georgia to care for her mother-in-law who was injured in a bad fall. Her motives aren't purely altruistic; she's hoping to get back into her husband's good graces. When she arrives, Alice discovers that the fall was no accident. Alice must battle her own inner demons as she uncovers the not-so-perfect truth of her husband's past. Ugly family secrets and devious attacks from an unknown assailant threaten to kill more than just Alice's dreams.

A dark journey into the Georgia mountains where kudzu covers the landscape and a grudge can last generations. All the Broken People will leave you questioning who the good guys really are or whether they exist at all.
I just completed this book. Amy Rivers first suspense novel. It is truly a great read. Like the description, Alice is caught up with all the broken people. Everyone has secrets and some just evil. There were broken people I actually felt for. Circumstances can break some and seems one could never get a break. It is amazingly good and you are left gutted for some.
Thank you, NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. Big thanks to Amy Rivers painting such a book.

Astounding story. The story is like looking at all the pieces of a puzzle and not being able to put them together until it’s too late. The suspense just keeps building as you keep turning the page. The author has a real sense of how to build the tension to bring out the best pieces of the plot. The characters are exquisitely developed. Her use of descriptive language allows the reader to engage every sensory nerve as you lose yourself in the twist and turns of the story. You can hear each scream echo in your head as read. You will not be disappointed.

A tiny town with juicy secrets. A daughter in law helping care for her mysteriously injured mother inlaw finds out just how involved she is with a place she hasn't really spent much time in. Bad blood, family feuds, unsavoury characters, it's all packaged in these pages. This was a tidy little story, all the loose ends neatly tied up, but I think that's what prevented a higher starred rating from me. I found the story line predictable. While I felt present for the town gossip that evolved, I felt like a lot of it was redundant. One thing that was impressive, however, was how the main character grew on me. I was not thrilled with her in the beginning, I found her contridictive and just hardly able to hold my interest. I honestly was not a fan with how it was forced at you that she was nothing special, but was able to possess the admiration of every male in town. The contradictory descriptions of this character along with her contradictory nature was a turn off. ( example being her love/hate emotions revolving around her husband)As the story developed, so didn't Alice, our main lady, and I liked what she became. She was self relief, confident, strong. Not a bad story just nothing too deep, thrilling or thought provoking.

Thank you to netgalley for this ARC copy given to me for honest review.

The premise of this novel has some major potential and the author writing is great however I had a hard time really enjoying this one. I can not pin point exactly what made the story a DNF for me. I hope to give it another try soon.

Good story, great setting. I could picture things so clearly. Good writing and flow. I liked Alice, she was an interesting character. There is plenty of suspense and surprises. Some of the characters are awful. The conclusion was something I didn’t see coming which is always fun.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Compathy Press, LLC for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this early copy!

I went into this thriller blind, not even knowing the author and it was a solid read. I was not a huge fan of the jumping point of view but the twists were shocking at the end. I recommend checking this thriller out, it was interesting and kept me captivated until the end.

Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend!

This was a very interesting book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Its unique point of view from the victims of abuse made it especially intriguing. I liked that the characters were neither predictable nor "cookie cutter." Their "brokenness" gave them more layers and made them more fascinating. People who, in other stories, would be considered pure evil or at least hopeless screwed up, we're treated as real people with real explanations for their choices in this book.
One thing I wish, though, is that we could know more about the side story of Juanita Jones (I've looked and there really is very little available). I'd also like to know the significance of the dismemberments. Why take such gruesome measures? I wish I could read the article Alice Bennett wrote.

# All the Broken People #Netgalley
Overall it’s a book about secrets and lies, yet who’s telling the truth and who’s lying. Alicia goes to look after her mother in law who has had a fall, to secretly help her marriage. It transpires she didn’t fall but she was pushed. Why will Alicia’s husband never return to his home town, why has he fallen out with his sister. Then theirs the 2 brothers to hold a grudge towards the Bennett’s, who exactly are being honest. It’s a quizzical book, on the one hand you believe one thing, then it throws you off into believing another, not really until towards the end do all the pieces fall into place. You could say definitely full of twists and lies, my only very slight criticism of the book is again just a personal thing to me, it could have been a bit faster paced book. I just felt ever so slightly a brilliant storyline was spoilt a little because it appeared to go at a slower pace than I would have either wanted or thought, not criticising much really, it’s only my preference. I would recommend you do read it, the storyline can certainly hold itself against most books I read, however I am marking it down a star because of the pace of the book. I am fully aware that every reader are different. It may not seem a tad too slow paced to many. Yet still very much enjoyed the devious secrets and lies

All The Broken People, by Amy Rivers

Short Take: An episode of Law & Order SVU, written by a first-year social worker.

(*Note: I received an advance copy of this book for review.*)

Y’all, I am SO OVER winter right now. It’s friggin MARCH for cryin’ out loud, can we please, please get rid of the snow and bone-snapping wind chills yet? Needless to say, when I saw a chance to mentally escape to somewhere warm and green, I jumped as fast as an un-athletic pasty nerd can.

Alice Bennett has eagerly agreed to be a temporary caretaker for her mother-in-law, Mae, who has suffered a broken hip and concussion after a fall down her front porch steps. Although Alice is hoping distance will give some clarity to her on-the-rocks marriage to Mae’s son Will, she soon finds out that this won’t be a peaceful break at all. Was Mae’s fall an accident, or did someone try to kill her? Mae’s the matriarch of the Small Town Bigwig Family, so of course there are plenty of seething have-nots who would be happy to see terrible things happen to her.

People like the Simms. Larry Lee, his mother Agnes and sister Beth have a long list of simmering resentments against the Bennetts. Correction: it’s more like a wildly-boiling pot of rage, just waiting to get thrown at the nearest Bennett in sight.

So when Alice, who’s really only a Bennett by marriage to the Town Golden Boy, shows up, well, allllllll kinds of sludge gets stirred up. Virtually every character in this book has Deep Dark Secrets, and when they are revealed, it sets off a chain of ever-increasing violence.

I think the author did a great job with creating a setting, with everything from the lush kudzu to Southern-awful names like Joylyn to the ever-present beer and cigarette smell in run-down trailers. But the characters, their motivations and the resulting story are not nearly so well-executed.

Take Alice. Everyone comments that she’s too plain for Will, but also that she’s beautiful. She’s “substantial” which I would take to mean forceful in some way, but complete strangers can tell that she’s damaged. She’s an unbelievable doormat, married to the most insufferable man imaginable. But she tolerates it, because she’s a collection of cliches, right down to having A Terrible Childhood.

Speaking of terrible childhoods - ALMOST EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in this book has had one. Seriously. Every bad act committed by anyone is because they have suffered so much in the past, and so whatever they did shouldn’t really count.Because of the terrible childhoods and all. But even if the character just did something awful because they were selfish & cruel, well, they pinkie-promise to do better, so all is forgiven.

I understand that Ms. Rivers wanted her characters who have suffered so much to have some kind of redemption, but it was just too pat, too easy. Of course when someone commits a horrific crime, we want to know WHY, but pulling the curtain all the way back, and over-explaining just which suffering buttons are being pushed doesn’t hold much entertainment value.

Which leads to my other big complaint: there weren’t any real twists or surprises. As a very good friend of mine likes to say, “Hurt people hurt people”, and when it’s telegraphed early & often that this or that or these people are emotionally injured, it’s not shocking or interesting when they do bad things.

The Nerd’s Rating: Two Happy Neurons (and some homemade granola, because that sounds delicious. And copious amounts of booze.)

Abused as a child, Alice Bennett has reinvented herself. Married and writing for a woman’s magazine, she thought her life was perfect. But the differences between Alice and her husband Will drive her to Georgia to become his mother’s temporary caretaker. She hopes this selfless act will mend her relationship with Will, but things in Georgia take a surprising turn. Learning that Mae Bennett’s fall resulted not from an accident but from an attack sets Alice on a road of self-discovery as she searches for answers about the danger surrounding Mae. Dark secrets, duplicitous attacks, and unknown danger threaten to destroy everything Alice knows . . . and may claim her life as well.

The rich setting resonates throughout the narrative and becomes a prominent character in this ominous tale. Despite being well-drawn, most of the characters populating Jasper, Georgia are damaged and, as adults, are in search of some sort of redemption; horrific childhoods seem to have been the norm in this small town where everyone holds on to their secrets in hope of something better . . . only no one seems to know how to find that “something better.” Circumstances are difficult; underhandedness and lies multiply almost as quickly as the kudzu. Distrust and blame come easily while suspense mounts and the unexpected attacks ramp up the tension. Astute readers will figure out what is happening early in the story, leaving them to discover whether the ultimate winner in this relentlessly dark tale will be good or evil.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Compathy Press, LLC and NetGalley
#AllTheBrokenPeople #NetGalley

All The Broken People

by Amy Rivers

Compathy Press, LLC




General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 05 Mar 2019





I am reviewing a copy of All the Broken People through Compathy Press LLC and Netgalley:





Alice Bennett is familiar with suffering. But having successfully buried her abusivr childhood she is now living a life she never thought she would be able to live. Alice Bennett married a perfect Southern Gentleman she has a job she loves, writing for a women’s magazine, but after her past comes back to haunt her she finds herself on the outs with her husband, and she feels like she is watching the perfect world she and her husband had built falling apart.









Alice who is desperate to get back to the way things were travels to the mountains of North Georgia to care for her Mother in Law who had a bad fall. She does that not purely out of selflessness she hopes it will put her back on her husband’s good side. But when Alice arrives she learns the fall was no accident. As she uncovers the truth of her husbands past she must battle her inner demons as real danger lurks.

I found the book a bit slow going at first, but it did pick up so I give All the Broken People four out of five stars!





Happy Reading!

First, thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I reviewed it already couple of weeks ago but must have made an error because it never appeared on the site!! So, here goes again:

This is more of a psychological thriller for me, not my usual police or FBI "catch the bad guys" thriller. Nevertheless, it really kept me turning the pages and on the edge of my seat. It is meticulously researched and plotted, and was easy to follow once I had the characters straight in my mind. It is set in North Georgia where the main character, Alice Bennett, has come to care for her mother-in-law following a fall down heavy stone steps. Soon the trouble in this small town where Alice's husband grew up begins to show its face. There's a feud that is generations old, and families who are still in the midst of it. The characters are amazing and are never cardboard cut-outs - real people with real histories and problems. Even the small town police officers are very much a part of it all and I loved their characters and interactions.

Alice has a job as a magazine journalist that she loves, but her questions and research at the small library in town seems to fuel antagonism by some of the town's people. Alice also has her own baggage (abuse and family issues as a child) and secrets are hurting her marriage. Her controlling husband has his own secrets, and events in town seem to be racing to an inevitable conclusion. The denouement was wonderful; I couldn't put my Kindle down during the last 30 pages or so. All the loose ends are neatly tied up; no cliffhangers for this experienced author who obviously respects her readers. I'm going to check out her other work; this one was THAT good! (less)

Small town southern life with some pretty interesting secrets! This was a great read and one I would definitely recommend. Full review to be posted soon!

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley.

Fast paced psychological thriller. Easy to read. Easy to follow.

WOW! I have never read Amy Rivers before, but i’m so looking forward to her next novel!
This book had me guessing until the very end, and holy wow. wasn’t expecting the ending! It was so well written and really painted a vivid picture of the characters and the town, I really enjoyed getting lost in it. Will be recommending!