The story is a great one. Has you questioning everyone trying to get to the bottom of what really happened and why. Love that it felt personal being from Texas myself. It did seem to go on a bit too long and it could have been shorter and still tell the story but otherwise it was really good

This book was very thought provoking and will stay with you. A cleverly crafted plot.
Many thanks to Imagery Lit and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

An emotional tale about a family. This story is well told and includes well crafted characters and a mostly engaging plot. Not for those seeking a light story. I can see why it was up for some awards.

Thanks very much for the free review copy for review!!

The Mackie family is enjoying a June outing at a rugged park near their Buffalo, New York home when tragedy strikes. One parent survives along with their teenage daughter and seven-year-old son found hiding in the woods. Was this a horrendous accident or something more heinous, and if so, whodunnit and whydunit? A mantle of ambiguity – a kind of hush – hangs between the survivors like a live grenade without its pin as each one deals with the circumstances and revelations surrounding the incident.
Such a well crafted novel, compelling enough to pull you through and very quick read. I enjoyed it so much from the first page till the end.

I received a review copy from the author via Netgalley and this is my honest opinion. I have to admit to being very disappointed with this book. It has such a great premise, with awesome characters, and enough action to keep this crime/mystery/thriller reader engaged. So, what's the problem? It is ruined for this reader by the heavy=handed prose and overly flowery writing style. Ms. Neathery appears to be of the school that says if 2 words are good, 20 are even better. She comes up with phrases like "prothonotary warblers". Needless to say, I had to resort to my dictionary (for about the 30th time) to determine what that is. Even the dictionary states that "prothonotary" is chiefly historical. Which means nobody uses it anymore. No wonder I didn't have a clue what it meant. It almost felt like the author was trying too hard to show how intelligent she is. And instead of impressing me, she ruined what could have been a very enjoyable story. Then I had a problem with the fact that the verb tense was constantly changing, sometimes in the same sentence. Pick a tense and stick with it. I finally gave up at 59% and jumped to the end to see if everything worked out like it should. Even there I was disappointed. I like my books to have all the elements tied up in a neat little bow and that didn't happen here. But to give credit where credit is due, Ms. Neathery did manage to write her book without any profanity, which is quite a change for this genre.

A Kind of Hush
by JoDee Neathery
I want to thank NetGalley and Imagery Lit for forwarding me a copy of this book to read and review. It was a pretty good book. There is so much tragedy in one family. The book did keep me guessing and I did not see the whodunit it. So I did enjoy it.

It’s the families first public outing since the death of their beloved seven-year-old son Griffin and it’s meant to take their mind off their grief. It does take their mind off the grief of losing Griffin because now they will lose summer Willow struggling with her feelings towards her mother after so long being blamed for Griffin‘s death, Matt is trying hard to get his head around living his life without the only woman he’s ever loved and poor little three-year-old Gabriel will put it on himself to bring sunshine back to everyone’s life. During all of this Sheriff Cooper is looking for a man named Victor Burke. Summer testified against him and although he was acquitted it didn’t stop him from stalking her teenage daughter Willow and sheriff Cooper wants to know did he push summer off the cliff or dead someone else do it? I thought this book was a thriller but it’s more literary fiction. If you like domestic settings watching families go through the emotions of grief in finding new hope in life you will love “a kind of hush.” There is a mystery to be solved and that is what happened on the cliff and what is the clicking noise gave keep telling Bucky he heard that day? It isn’t an action packed mystery but a mystery still in all. I thought this book flowed along nicely and although not the book I was hoping for I still enjoyed it. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own I was given this book by Net Galley in the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily. #NetGally, #A kind of hush,#Joe Dimitri

340 pages

4 stars

It took me several days of thinking about this book before I began to write this review.

Matt and Summer Mackie suffer a terrible incident. Their six-year old son choked on a piece of candy and subsequently died. He was supposedly in the case of his elder sister, ten-year old Willa at the time. Summer thoughtlessly blamed Willa for the death. Willa naturally became very upset and withdrew from her parents, especially Summer.

Some time later, Summer decides that the family, now including the precocious Gabe, should take a mini-vacation to a park. While at the park, another accident occurs. Tumbling down the side of a mountain, Matt suffers a serious head injury and other traumas, Willa receives broken ribs and an arm, and Summer dies of her injuries.

Enter Sheriff McAlister and his chief deputy Connor Boyle. Their investigation turns over a few suspects. Based on her hostility is Willa, Summer’s ex-husband Brad and a local offender named Victor.

Victor is causing the police all kinds of problems. He is stalking Willa, or was it Summer? He keeps eluding the police, and getting more fearful, Matt decides to take Gabe and Willa to Texas for a while to stay with Summer’s parents, Margo and Patrick.

Matt is not allowed to fly, so he and his sister-in-law Starla, a songwriter, drive from New York to Texas.

The book also tells the reader Victor’s story from his point of view. (Which is very interesting.)

This book is engaging and flows along nicely. It is well written and plotted. I liked the characters, in the end, I almost liked Victor. I raised my eyebrows in a few spots. Coming from a dysfunctional family, I am always suspicious of happy families. My weakness, not the book’s. I admit I was disappointed in the ending. I expected more somehow.

I want to thank NetGalley and Imagery Lit for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

A Kind Of Hush is the type of book that even after you put it down you are still thinking about it.
A terrible tragedy has happened in a family, an accident that was never meant to happen.
A child chokes to death when a sister is watching him and her life will never be the same.
Her mother blames her and she can not escape that encompassing sadness and guilt she feels.
Left in the family are the parents and the other siblings who are the sister and a younger brother.
My favorite character is Gabe, maybe because I have a son named Gabe. Gabe's character really goes through a lot, he is wise beyond his years. He is at the point where he questions things and needs someone to talk to. I think he knows more than he is letting on.
A second tragedy occurs in this family and it will never be the same again.How do we know when enough is enough? How would we act when we've reached our breaking point?
We see how the outcome of these tragedies affect the whole family . The book had a very surprising ending I must say. I highly recommend this book and hope to see Gabe in another book soon. He is special!

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own,