Hidden deep in a Tennessee national forest, 14-year-old Carey Blackburn and her younger sister live in a rotting camper with no electricity, no running water, and little supervision.  A bi-polar drug addict, their mother flits in and out of the girls' lives.  Her frequent absences are nothing new, but this time, she's been gone longer than ever before.  With almost no food in the camper, Carey is starting to panic.  How will she keep Nessa fed, let alone safe from all the dangers that surround them in the dense, isolated woods? 

When two strangers show up at the camper, Carey grows even more alarmed.  One of them is her father, but that doesn't mean she can trust him or his social worker companion.  Despite her misgivings, Carey is forced to leave the only home she's ever known.  Thrown into a world full of unfamiliar people and mind-boggling middle-class comforts, she's lonely, confused, and way out of her element.  As she tries to make her way in her strange, new present Carey must also come to grips with some shocking truths about her past.  Including the one she holds deep, deep inside her troubled soul.

As you can tell from the intense jacket art, If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch is not a light read.  Not by a long shot.  In fact, it's a haunting, heartbreaking novel that's achingly raw and emotionally wrenching.  It's also a lyrical, hopeful book about family, fortitude, and forging bravely ahead despite past hurts.  Sharp, but nuanced, If You Find Me tells a powerful story that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder expletives), sexual content, violence, depictions of underage drinking/partying, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for Last Ragged Breath, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from previous Bell Elkins mysteries.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

February 26, 1972—A coal slurry dam breaks in Logan County, West Virginia, days after passing a government inspection.  Thousands of gallons of black water pour over the area, destroying homes and businesses, leaving thousands homeless, and over 100 people dead.  Known as the Buffalo Creek flood, reverberations from the disaster lingered long after its survivors settled with the Pittston Coal Company for millions of dollars in damages.     

Last Ragged Breath, the fourth and latest installment in Julia Keller's compelling Bell Elkins series, uses this tragic event as an intriguing backdrop.  The novel features Royce Dillard, a man who lost his parents in the Buffalo Creek disaster.  Royce would have been killed as well if it hadn't been for his mother, who tossed him to safety before she disappeared in the inky floodwaters (although Royce is fictional, his backstory is very loosely based on the real experience of "miracle baby" Kerry Albright).  Now a recluse living off the grid with seven stray dogs, Royce is accused of murdering a slick land developer who was set on building a multi-million dollar resort in Royce's backyard. 

For prosecuting attorney Belfa "Bell" Elkins, few things about the case ring true.  But with damning evidence against Royce, there's little she can do to stop the proceedings.  She longs for the good ole days when she could sit down with her colleague and best friend Nick Fogelsong, putting their heads together to solve puzzling crimes.  But there's a new sheriff in town and Nick is busy with his new job as the head of security for a gas station chain.  Bell misses him with a fierceness that manifests itself as anger.  Resigned to prove Royce's innocence on her own, Bell now faces her toughest case yet.  Who really killed Ed Hackel?  Why?  Can she find a way to exonerate Royce in time?  Or will the seemingly gentle recluse rot in jail for a crime he (probably) didn't commit?  

There are so many elements that keep me engaged by the Bell Elkins series.  First, I love Bell, who's as tough and devoted as she is vulnerable.  She's very real, as authentically flawed as the rest of us.  Second, I'm always fascinated by Keller's unflinching, but compassionate depiction of rural poverty.  Her ruminations on the devastating affects of unemployment, drug abuse, and alcoholism are both eye-opening and heartbreaking.  Third, Keller always manages to surprise me.  Like with other Bell Elkins mysteries, I thought I had Last Ragged Breath's murderer pegged long before Bell did.  Nope.  I was totally wrong.  For all of these reasons, I'm always eager to see what Julia Keller will do next.  As evidenced by Last Ragged Breath, her books just keep getting better.  The next comes out in August 2016 and I, for one, cannot wait.  

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Bell Elkins series, including A Killing in the Hills; Bitter River; and Summer of the Dead)

Grade:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

For the past eleven years, 14-year-old Raphael Fernández has spent his days picking through trash at the Behala dumpsite.  It's a stinky, smelly job.  A dangerous one, too.  If Raphael places his bare foot in the wrong spot, he could sink under the mounds of garbage and suffocate.  Or step on a dirty needle.  Or burst open a bag of stuppa (poop).  It's all happened to other trash boys.  Given a choice, Raphael would leave the reeking trash heaps far, far behind.  But he doesn't, so day after day, he crawls through piles of refuse, hoping to find something—plastic, metal, glass, clean paper, rubber, etc.—that can be traded for cash, which he can use to buy food for himself and his family.  

Then, one ordinary day, Raphael does find something.  Something that's not only mysterious, but also valuable.  So valuable, in fact, that the police are going to great lengths to find it.  Raphael knows he should turn over his find, but he can't quite make himself part with it.  If he can solve the treasure's riddles, he can get enough money to free himself, his family and his friends from a lifetime of trudging through garbage just to survive.  With the police on his trail, Raphael doesn't have much time, but he has to try.  It's the only chance he'll ever have to rise out of the desperate poverty that drags him down.  Racing against time and imminent capture, Raphael and two of his comrades embark on a frantic journey to find a treasure that can save them all.  If only they can survive long enough to enjoy it.

Although the squalor Andy Mulligan describes in his upper middle grade novel, Trash, seems like pure fiction, it's not.  It's a scene the author witnesses for himself every day.  Behala, itself, is a made-up dumpsite, but it's based on a real one in Manila, which sits next to the school where Mulligan teaches.  Makeshift homes really do rim the garbage dump.  Their occupants, says the writer, "really aren't extras in a movie, these people really are living there forever, sorting out the stuff that I put down my rubbish chute."  It's unfathomable, but reality for many in The Philippines and other countries in the developing world.  The book's thrilling plot and colorful characters, though, came straight out of Mulligan's imagination.  Those elements, coupled with the dramatic setting, make for an intense, exciting story that tugs at the heartstrings while celebrating courage and hope.  It's not an easy read, but it is a compelling and affecting one.  About a month has passed since I finished Trash and let me tell you, Raphael and his buddies are still very much on my mind.  That's how deep of an impression this novel makes.  Two words:  Read it.

But, first, watch this:

    

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of The Rent Collector by Camron Wright)

Grade: 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

In shanties at the edge of Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in Cambodia, lives a community of "pickers."  Every day, the people sift through Phnom Penh's garbage looking for anything of value, anything that can be sold to pay for their most basic of necessities.  It's a risky business; pickers are routinely crushed by bulldozers, pricked by dirty syringes, or robbed of their meager finds by gang members who patrol the area looking for easy targets.  Then, there's the ever-present stench, the rivers of polluted waters that stream through the place when it rains, and the trapped methane gas that creates always-burning fires.  Danger lurks in every corner of the monstrous junkyard.

As if there's not enough to worry about already at Stung Meanchey, 29-year-old Sang Ly has another problem—her only child is sick.  Sixteen-month-old Nisay suffers from constant diarrhea, a condition which leaves him both constantly dehydrated and perennially cranky.  Sang Ly has tried everything to help him, from experimenting with traditional cures to buying medicine from foreign doctors.  The pills help—until Sang Ly's supply runs out.  If only she and her husband, Ki Lim, could make enough money to buy enough medicine, then maybe Nisay would be cured.  But money's not an easy thing to come by in a place like Stung Meanchey.  Especially when The Cow, their demanding landlord, takes her fair share and more.

Sang Ly doesn't dare to dream of a life beyond the garbage dump where she's lived for so long, but when she's given a battered, yet still beautiful picture book, hope surges into her heart.  Hope for Nisay, for the future she might still be able to give him in spite of her bleak surroundings and meager resources.  Surely if the child can learn to read, he can leave Stung Meanchey's trash mountains behind.  He could go to school, find a good job and make a better life for himself.  But how to accomplish such a task when no one Sang Ly knows can read well enough to pick out the letters of their own names?

When the desperate mother discovers her landlord's shocking secret, she sees a miraculous solution to her problem.  If only Sang Ly can convince the hardhearted woman to help her.  The Cow has never helped anyone but herself, but stranger things have happened at Stung Meanchey and, with the life of her child hanging in the balance, Sang Ly knows she must do anything she can.  Even begging for aid from the most unlikely of sources.

Based on the experiences of a real Cambodian family, The Rent Collector by Camron Wright tells an incredible tale.  It's a story of survival, hope and a mother's refusal to give up on her child's present or future.  From its hard-to-stomach setting to its memorable characters to the powerful messages it imparts, The Rent Collector is touching without being sentimental.  Sure, Sang Ly's narrative voice sounds a little too American, but still, the book opened my eyes, moving me to tears—of gratitude, of appreciation, of empathy.  I read the novel at Thanksgiving time and nothing, perhaps, could have made me more grateful for the many advantages and blessings I've been given.  If you're feeling low this holiday season or if you just need a story that entertains and inspires, buy a copy of The Rent Collector today.  You'll enjoy the read and your purchase will help a Cambodian child in need (10% of the book's royalties will be donated to the Cambodian Children's Fund [CCF]).  Talk about a win-win.

I don't love book trailers, but this one offers a peek into a world that just boggles my mind:



This one, which was filmed by Camron Wright's son, shows more of the reality behind the fiction:


For more information, please visit the book's website as well as River of Victory.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG for mild language (no F-bombs), violence and a little bit of sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Rent Collector from the generous folks at Shadow Mountain.  Thank you!