A Rip in Heaven

A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath by Jeanine Cummins

My Rating (out of 5 stars):

3 stars—I liked it!

Description from Goodreads.com:

“It was a headline story in the New York Times and USA Today. It was covered by Court TV and profiled on the Ricki Lake Show. Now, here is the intimate memoir of a shocking crime and its aftermath...one family's immediate and unforgettable story of what victims can suffer long after they should be safe.”

My Thoughts:

This is the story of three teenage cousins who were attacked during a vacation to St. Louis. The two female cousins—Julie and Robin Kelly were killed. The survivor was their cousin, Tom Cummins (the author’s brother). I would classify this more as a memoir, than a true crime selection because it is told only from Jeanine Cummins perspective. And to be objective, many people suspected that the crime was not as Tom Cummins reported it. So the overwhelming feel of the book was that she was defending her brother.

While this wasn’t an objective account of this horrible crime, it was still a sad and moving tale. I would have liked to have learned more about Julie and Robin, they seemed to take a back-seat in the story, which was unfortunate. I would read another book about this incident written on a more factual (rather than emotional) basis.

A recommend for the memoir or true-crime reader.