Faultlines

By: Barbara Taylor Sissel

Narrated by: Donna Postel

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

It's the phone call every parent dreads: in the middle of the night, Sandy Cline learns that her twenty-year-old son, Jordan, has been in a car accident. Her nephew, Travis, was also in the car, along with Travis's girlfriend. All three are alive - but barely. The car was smashed against a tree along a remote and winding road, beautiful but deadly, in their rural Texas Hill Country town.

In the wake of the car crash, the close-knit family is tested like never before. Jenna, Travis's mother, blames Jordan - as well as her sister, Sandy - after reports surface that Jordan had been driving. As the young adults struggle to survive, tension between their parents escalates. But when trust is broken and a shocking family secret is exposed, it creates a perfect storm of harrowing consequences. Rumors in the small town spread like wildfire. When details of the accident are questioned, Sandy and Jenna wonder if their family has been destroyed beyond repair.

As always, there's much more to the story...if the family is to survive, they will have to come together to confront the terrible truth and overcome their pain. But are some betrayals unforgivable?

©2016 Barbara Taylor Sissel (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Misses the mark

Any additional comments?

A story about 3 teenagers with their whole life ahead of them, 2 of which are cousins. They make poor decisions about drugs & alcohol and one of the boys pays the price with his life. It brings to light the thin line between family and tragedy. How would you react if you thought one of your children's cousin was responsible for their death, even if it was an accident?

While this book does make you think about the question above, the book takes a sharp turn and that is where it all went down hill for me. I wish the author would have stayed on the original track.

Good story on a hard subject.

Well written story covering an important subject. I liked the character development. I do recommend it for teens as well as adults.

Enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed this book. It was a zszstory of sisters, family and a small town. I will miss the characters!

Wow! Wow!!!

I really enjoyed Barbara Taylor Sissel's book Faultlines. I was immediately drawn in by the summary description and knew this was a book I had to get. It is about 3 kids (~20yrs old) who decide to drive after partying and then get into a bad accident. Told from Jordan's mom's point of view, readers and listeners see first hand what families go through and the struggles they face when a life-threatening situation like this occurs.

This is the first book I have read/listened to from both the author and narrator. They were both outstanding! The performance of Donna Postel, the narrator, was amazing! Absolutely A-MA-ZING!!! I didn't feel at all like she was reading lines in a book. She was made for this part...she is Jordy's mom in every way. I don't think she could have done anything different to improve her telling of the story. She was 100%!!!

Barbara Taylor Sissel's writing had me engaged in the story from start to finish. The characters and their situations were so real...these things happen in real life. I felt like I was there with the families and I experienced a range of emotions throughout. By bringing awareness to real-life issues, such as alcohol abuse, drunk driving, and certain teenage behaviors, the author was able to also focus attention on other issues that are often overlooked. This book really got me thinking!!! Some people in our world find it easier to place blame on the surface issue, rather than the reason it came to the surface in the first place. Not in this book...these characters start at the surface and dig their way down to the root! It is a difficult (and sometimes unhappy) process, but as a result, growth occurs. I learned that if you ever want to know the truth about others, you must first fully know, understand, and accept the truth of yourself.

I found this book to be 5 stars all around! I recommend it to those who enjoy fictional stories of real-life events involving family, teens/young adults, and the emotional rollercoaster of life that we all go through.

Thank you for reading my review!! :-)

Narrator is hard to listen to

Story seems good but I couldn’t get past the narrator voice, it was way too squawky for me to listen to on my long road trip.

Good story

The story was heartbreaking and the narration was very well done. I teared up at certain times. The only thing I wish was that there was a resolution as far as the girl was concerned. That was left somewhat open ended.

Meh....Good, but not great

This story is well written, and the characters are all believable and consistent...that wasn't the issue. For me, I just didn't like the story. It just didn't have enough intrigue to keep me captivated. It was definitely good enough to enjoy and finish the book, but when it was over I just found myself thinking, "so what"? Well narrated, though.

zzzzzz

story was fairly predictable, didnt distract while driving in traffic. not a book i would recommend to friends.

great

Sandy made a mistake that charged her whole family. I love how Jordi looked inside himself an became a better young man. The law even makes mistakes it was nice they show that along with the good they do. it was a wonderful book.

Kind of unbelievable

The characters aren't very likable, especially that of Jordy, who I felt should have been more relatable. A major loophole in the entire manslaughter case +spoiler alert+ is that the kids were drinking at the house of the girl's parents, who may have even provided the alcohol to the minors. Where was their culpability? The girl, I can't even remember her name, was barely a character at all. Nothing about her personality was even discussed, despite the fact that she was supposed to have been one of the boys' girlfriends.