Sticks & Stones (Rachael Flynn Mystery)

Susan Meissner's strength is making characters so real, you root for them as you welcome them into your life. Sticks and Stones is no different. Plagued by an unsigned letter about the disappearance of a bully from twenty years prior, Rachael Flynn finds herself caught up in a gently-unfolding mystery of truth, fear, and childhood vigilance. Through the pages, find yourself enthralled, challenged, and uplifted.

STICKS AND STONES is another fantastic, dramatic, memorable novel by Susan Meissner, who deals with the unpleasant theme of "bullying," and involves the heart of the reader in the lives of a neighborhood of children, whose lives were scarred forever by the cruelty of an emotionally-disturbed child. Meissner has a unique creativity that causes the reader to experience the pathos of her characters. A book every parent with young children should read.

Rachel Flynn is a lawyer who is getting over her last case which nearly killer her. She thinks things will start to return to normal when she receives an anonymous note saying a body will be found in a construction site. When the body is revealed to have been killed 20 years ago, Rachel starts to investigate who sent the note and why only now. As Rachel is drawn more into the mystery, she discovers the horrors that a bully can cause and the pain, suffering and emotional damage that stem from it. This was an excellent book. I haven't read the first book in the series, Widows and Orphans, but I never felt lost in this book (although I definitely want to pick up a copy of it now). I felt like I was watching a mix of Cold Case and Medium. I could actually see this book being made into a TV episode. This is one of the few books that I felt creeped out while reading, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was standing behind me especially whenever Rachel got one of her "feelings." What made the story even more scarier was that situations like this take place all the time. I was teased a lot due to my ethnicity but I was fortunate that I was never bullied. Reading this book really gives an insight to what the victims of a bully go through. It really is scary when you think that these children felt so helpless and that every adult turned a blind eye and wouldn't listen to them. Rachel is a very good lead character and she's also one of the bravest female leads I've ever read. I really like Rachel's husband Trace and his friends. They're very different from her but they don't clash and they're very eager to help Rachel out. They sound like a really fun bunch to hang out with. (except for Fig's eccentric taste in food!) I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm definitely going to go read the first book and I'm looking forward to more of Rachel Flynn's mysteries.

I read the first book, Widows and Orphans, and loved it. I was very excited to see that she had written another book in the same genre. The book was very good, kept me interested and I would recommend it highly. I am very glad that I discovered Susan Meissner.

Rachael Flynn--attorney, wife, mother, and sometimes unexpected sleuth with a divine appointment--is back, this time hot on the trail of a cold-case killer. Despite the reticence of her artist husband, Trace, Rachael once again finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. This time, however, the case goes back nearly a quarter of a century and involves a teenage bully nicknamed "Bucky" who, until the discovery of his remains, had been believed to have run away. Considering Bucky's previous reign of terror, there seems to be no shortage of suspects in his murder, but the anonymous letters sent to Rachael assure her that Bucky's death was an accident. Can Rachael discover the perpetrator's identity and convince the police that the bully's demise was indeed an accident, as she instinctively believes? Or will her naiveté lead her into dangerous territory, as Trace has warned? Unlike many edge-of-the-seat mysteries that grip the reader with heart-pounding suspense, Meissner's gentle brilliance woos the reader through the experiences and emotions of irresistible characters that are more like friends and relatives than characters in a book. As with all this author's books, Sticks & Stones is a superbly crafted novel with a profound glimpse into the human soul.