R J Ellory - Quiet Belief in Angels

Reviewed by showhost 19th Feb 09.
I always know when I have a good book as I can't wait to get back to it, I look forward to going to bed to read it. This was one of those books.
For the first couple of pages I thought 'oh no, this is going to be a drag' but it soon got you hooked. As I read the words, they portrayed themselves in my mind in a southern American drawl.
The storyteller is Joseph Vaughan, he is 12 and it is 1939 in Georgia, USA.
He sees a white feather falling to his feet and he remembers that old saying 'a white feather means the visitation of an angel'. His first white feather heralded the angel who took Joseph's dad. After his dad died his mum found it hard to keep food on the table & make ends meet.
Joseph lived in the small town of Augusta Falls. When the next feather came it was just before they found the body of the little girl who was in Josephs class. She had been brutally murdered & abused. But this was just the start, death came many times to Augusta Falls.
Joseph & his friend formed the 'guardians' group to try and protect the little girls but they failed. Joseph also promised to protect their neighbours little girl but he failed her as well. Joseph carried the burden all his life as well as the sorrow & heartbreak of his mothers mental breakdown & the loss of his wife & child so young in his life.
Joseph was different from the other folks in Augusta Falls, he had a way with words, he wrote stories, he left Augusta Falls when he got older but he never stopped thinking about the murders. Eventually, when in his 40's, he decided to try & find out once & for all who committed those grisly murders especially as the murderer had come looking for him but killed somebody close to him instead.
You will jump from suspect to suspect you will find it hard to believe that someone so young can go through so much in such a short time. You will feel for Joseph Vaughan, feel for the injustice that is dealt him.
I am so glad I read this book.