Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read., August 25, 1999
By A Customer
This book was big fun to read. The heroine, Carrie, was both gutsy and vulnerable. The story was very fast paced making it hard for me to put the book down. The plot deals with a lot of heavy issues, but without self-pity. Carrie takes the attitude that the bad things that may have happened to us as children can be acknowledged from an adult perspective, and that old fears can be turned into a strength that is both formidable and compassionate. Wait til you read the opening scene. It sent chills down my spine. Then get ready for some more as the book goes on. Plenty of action, romance, and a cool, sardonic kind of humor. This book is very uplifting.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN EXTREMELY GOOD MYSTERY NOVEL!, June 28, 2001
I just discovered Meg O'Brien about a week ago and decided to give "Crashing Down" a try. I fullfillingly enjoyed the whole novel. It says on the cover "If you like Mary Higgins Clark, then you'll love Meg O'Brien," that is definitely TRUE! She's just as good. The story revolves around a woman named Carrie, who was sexually abused at age eight by her father, who was a pastor, and by a teacher who worked in her father's church. Carrie is now about thirty and has moved away from her hometown. Her father is long dead at this point and she has tried to forget about the teacher who raped her. Carrie's now an prolific author who writes books about abuse and children. She is invited to speak at a function back in her hometown, she nervously accepts. Carrie is even more startled to discover that the main head speaker is man named Christopher. HE WAS THE SAME MAN WHO MOLESTED HER WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG! He is now the new Mr. Rogers, the host and sponsor of a child's program! Carrie is shocked and is determined to bring down this monster before he can abuse more children. She turns to local cop named Nick, but is afraid to give away too much. Carrie goes to confront Chris at the local church but he isn't there and she meets one of Chris's followers, a little girl named Tess, who looks sore and red on her legs. Carrie then discovers that her sister who was a teenager committed sucicide a few months earlier. Is Christopher still molesting little girls or is there another person who follows in Chris's tradition? This is an amazing and somewhat frightening novel of suspense. If you are a fan of Erica Spindler, Helen R. Myers, or Christiane Heggan, then you'll love this book!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for anyone close to a child abuse victim., May 13, 1999
Author Meg O¹Brien has had the courage to recall horrible memories from her own childhood abuse and woven them into a tale of suspense through her character Carrie Holt. For nearly 30 years Carrie has lived a life of tangled, unclear emotions and nightmares that won¹t go away. She has not only carried the anger of the abuse, but anger at herself thinking that she was in some way to blame. Now a famous author, Carrie is invited to speak at the Children¹s Festival of the Arts in her hometown of Holly Beach, N. J. Also attending the event is the popular children¹s televangelist, Christopher Breen‹who had sexually molested Carrie when she was only six years old. The face-to-face meeting tears open the locks of the past and Carrie is overcome with the memories that begin to flow out. Being forced to bring into the open the depraved situation she had spent years hiding from‹years plagued with anger, emptiness and denial where her very survival had depended on forgetting and blocking it out‹instantly brings her emotions to a frenzy. In order to bring Breen to justice and prevent him from performing any further unspeakable acts on innocent children, she realizes she must begin to put her vague, ambiguous pieces of memory together and search for the whole truth, even if it means exposing unpleasant secrets within her own family. Meg has done a splendid job of turning her experiences into a suspenseful novel while remaining true to her feelings and memories of her childhood, as well as the problems encountered in her adult years. This is a must read for devotees of stark psychological suspense, as well as for anyone who has ever been associated with child abuse, especially family members. CRASHING DOWN gives excellent insight about, and better understanding of, the mental torture and behavior of the victim. At the same time it leaves the reader feeling uplifted‹a challenge for any author, but one Meg O¹Brien handles beautifully
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