Intense and powerful

An intense, gripping, graphic and as a consequence sometimes difficult read as Richard Godwin's The Pure and The Hated illustrates the damage that can occur, when kind, generous and trusting people display too much humanity, leaving themselves wide open to destruction at the hands of a disturbed psychopath.

Shepherd Butler and his wife already feel as if they have lost nearly everything there is to lose. Their son died in a hunting accident and they are struggling both as individuals and as a couple. Shepherd Butler and his wife are wrong.

Charity towards a homeless man, results in a horrifying chain of events which wreaks havoc and terror on an already bereft married couple and their extended family. In truth events have already begun to play out, even before Shephard's meeting with a homeless man in a snowy Vermont wood.

Family secrets, best hidden and buried are ruthlessly exposed and exploited, connections, histories, crossed paths, mental health issues, abuse, violence, sexual assault, rape, death and lots more besides.

Not a book for the faint of heart. The detail of the inhumanity on display, contrasts vividly with the descriptions of a wintery Vermont. Not a book I'm likely to forget in a hurry. Some powerful writing from Richard Godwin.

4 from 5

Richard Godwin has been read and enjoyed before - Ersatz World in 2019.

Read - (listened to) January, 2021
Published - 2016
Page count - 129 (3 hrs 2 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible

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