Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
by Kristi Belcamino is a non-stop action packed novel involving
murder, mind games, and a parent’s worst nightmare.
She has come into her own as an author with great character
development, showing their emotions, fears, and strengths.
Almost from the very beginning of this plot, readers are drawn
into the character’s anguish. Bay Area crime reporter,
Gabriella Giovanni and her live-in partner, Detective Sean
Donavan confront evil when their child is kidnapped. She suspects
that the same person who kidnapped and murdered her sister
is behind the nightmare she is personally facing now. Detective
Donovan is frustrated when he cannot protect those he loves,
his girlfriend and daughter. The story’s suspense never
lets up, as it becomes a race with the clock to find the child
before time runs out.
Belcamino uses her experiences as a crime reporter to add
realism to the plot making her main characters jump off the
page. She noted that in a New York Times Op-ed both her worlds
as a reporter and parent sometimes conflict. “As a mother
and crime writer, I’m two people every day. One is an
Italian American mother who carts children to soccer and softball,
making pancakes and acting silly. The other sits down and
writes about terrible people doing terrible things to others.
And sometimes those others are children. I wonder how I can
tell my own daughter that the monsters she reads about are
not real, when I know better than most just how real they
are?”
A powerful quote from the book exemplifies this feeling, “At
work, I’m pulled into the depths of darkness talking
to people who are grieving or coaxing information out of convicts.
When I return home at night, I’m confronted with innocence
in the form of my small child who knows nothing of the evil
in this world.” Americans tend to forget that policemen,
those serving the military, reporters, and first responders
must reconcile having to deal with the darker side of humanity.
She wants her readers to understand, “As a crime reporter
I understand all those who must confront evil and then go
home to hold their children. I began to find it very difficult
to do both. I have put in all my books the theme of a child
kidnapped and killed because I was haunted by the reality
in a story I covered as a reporter. The dedication in my first
book is to every girl and young man kidnapped and killed.
Unfortunately, the details I draw from are my real life experiences
of sitting with parents in the first few days as the search
went on for their taken children. Now, as a reporter, I am
more guarded, and try not to get as emotionally involved.”
It becomes obvious after reading Belcamino’s books that
her character Gabriella is her alter ego. Besides writing
a strong, smart, and sassy character; a riveting and intriguing
plot; she also writes about the inner workings of a large
Italian family, their loyalties and devotion towards each
other.
Reviews of other titles in this series
Blessed
Are Those Who Weep #3
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