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Title details for The Monsters We Make by Kali White - Available

The Monsters We Make

A Novel

by Kali White
Mia Barron
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
It's August 1984, and paperboy Christopher Stewart has gone missing. Hours later, twelve-year-old Sammy Cox hurries home from his own paper route, red-faced and out of breath, hiding a terrible secret. Crystal, Sammy's seventeen-year-old sister, is worried by the disappearance but she also sees an opportunity: the Stewart case has echoes of an earlier unsolved disappearance of another boy, one town over. Crystal senses the makings of an award-winning essay, one that could win her a scholarship—and a ticket out of their small Iowa town. Officer Dale Goodkind can't believe his bad luck: another town and another paperboy kidnapping. But this time he vows that it won't go unsolved. As the abductions set in motion an unpredictable chain of violent, devastating events touching each life in unexpected ways, Dale is forced to face his own demons. Told through interwoven perspectives—and based on the real-life Des Moines Register paperboy kidnappings in the early 1980s—The Monsters We Make deftly explores the effects of one crime exposing another and the secrets people keep hidden from friends, families, and, sometimes, even themselves.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 23, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666552607
      • File size: 254608 KB
      • Duration: 08:50:25

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 27, 2020
      At the start of this gripping novel from White (The Good Divide as Kali VanBaale), 13-year-old Christopher Stewart vanishes while on his early morning paper route in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1984. The aftermath of his kidnapping unfolds through the perspectives of 12-year-old paperboy Sammy Cox, who has a weighty secret; his 18-year-old sister, Crystal, an aspiring journalist who writes an essay about Christopher’s disappearance; and Sgt. Dale Goodkind, of the Crimes Against Persons Section of the Des Moines PD. Two years earlier, Dale worked on the still unsolved case of another missing paperboy. The experience has left him clinically depressed, a condition he hides from his colleagues. His assignment to the Stewart case puts even more strain on his fragile mental health. His unraveling engages just as much as the search for clues. Dale, Crystal, and Sammy each evolves and becomes more self-aware as White skillfully keeps readers questioning everyone’s motives. Fans of character-driven crime fiction will be satisfied. Agent: Julia Kenny, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary.

    • Good Reading Magazine
      Award-winning storyteller Kali White was inspired to write her first crime novel by memories of her childhood response to the unsolved Des Moines Register paperboy kidnappings in the early 1980s. The result is this disturbing story of midwestern suburban life torn asunder when young boys go missing; a character-centric tale that focuses on the perspectives of an adolescent boy, his older teenage sister, and a depressed local cop. Early one morning in 1984, young Sammy Cox scampers terrified into a church on the south side of Des Moines, before taking a long, winding route home. On the same day, Sammy’s fellow paperboy, Christopher Stewart, goes missing. Meanwhile Sammy’s older sister, Crystal, a high school newspaper editor, is hunting for a story that’ll earn her a scholarship to pay for college and get her out of town. As their local community is rocked by Christopher’s abduction, suspicions swirl, but progress is slow for the police, including Officer Dale Goodkind, whose failure to solve an earlier case already has him teetering. White has crafted an absorbing tale which explores the impact of crime on police, those close to the victim, and the wider community. The Monsters We Make veers into some tough territory, including child abuse, but does so with a light rather than graphic touch.  Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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