“They came into the clearing suddenly and the moon opened up above them, lighting the cracked and broken concrete that stretched like the decaying bones of giants between them and the abandoned Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Tom [Cummins] stopped dead in his tracks, causing Robin [Kerry] to stumble into his back. He willed himself to move forward but he felt stuck, mesmerized by the menacing old bridge that loomed up before him. The massive steel structure was wild with leaves, and the undergrowth n...

Considering that this book is about the brutal gang rape and murder of the author's two cousins, it is an extremely balanced and thoughtful account, much like Ann Rule's work. Julie and Robin Kerry were thrown off a bridge in Missouri in 1991; Robin's body was never found. Their cousin, Jeanine Cummins's brother Tom, was with them and was also shoved off the bridge, but survived and later testified against the killers. There are detailed word portraits of each of the main characters in the story...

I elected to read this book because I'd recently finished American Dirt and really liked that one.So, I'm glad I read American Dirt first or I probably wouldn't have given it a glance. I found A Rip in Heaven to be preachy. Clearly, given the author's relationship to the story and the fact that it is written about a tragedy that befell her family, I expected the one-sidedness of the opinions. What annoyed me most was the third person perspective. Add to that the fact that Jeanine Cummins wasn't

It's tough to give a 5 star review to a true crime book and by that I mean that it seems somehow "indecent" since the book is about a terrible murder. What makes this book different from a lot of true crime accounts is that it's also a memoir. What occurs in the book happened within the author's family and the author was actually there when the murders occurred. So it's a story of a terrible crime and its aftermath, but it's also a tale of what happens when people trust the police too much and,

I'm not sure how to explain my dislike for this book. I didn't think the writing was very good, the presentation/flow wasn't great, and there was just something that irritated me about it. I apologize to the author; I understand this was a very traumatic event in her and her family's life and I can't begin to understand what they went through and the feelings they all must have. I think it just came across to me wrong - as a string of defensive victimizations. I didn't feel like I learned about

One hesitates to say that one ‘likes’ a book such as this, and yet I do feel called to give it a rating. It is well-written especially for a first book and considering the emotions the author must have had to keep in check throughout. Rip in Heaven is a very compelling story which I read in two days. However, it is also a very tragic story and not just in the sense of the original crime but in the subsequent prosecution of ‘justice’, or should I say travesty of it? As it says on the author's we...

"A Rip in Heaven" was a heartfelt memoir that brought tears to my eyes. I read it so quickly because it was hard to put down. I cried at the horrific acts that the authors cousin and brother were subjected to. I was also horrified at the way both the police and the media handled the whole horrible situation. The author's brother was treated as a suspect instead of the victim that he was and then the media constantly reported inaccurate or downright false information. Plus, as the years passed by...

I had a really hard time putting this book down. This is the story of Jeanine's brother and two female cousins - - all in their late teens/early twenties who have a horrible crime perpetrated against them. Unfortunately, one of the three is subsequently blamed for the crime, and this book relates the story of this injustice and the family's reaction to it. It really is a gripping, if horrific, story on so many levels - - the crime, the senselessness and viscousness of the attack, the completely

This book is about a family that suffers a terrible lost. Tom Cummins was a normal rebelious teen. When he and his cousins sneak out of the house to look at Julies (cousin) poem, out at the Old Chain of Rock Bridge. when approched by four guys things get tough for Tom, Julie, and Robin (other cousin). Terrible things happen to Tom's cousins, and after all of the bad things that have happend to them thus fare, Robin and Julie are pushed of the bridge, Tom jumps in to save them. It only gets worse...

A Rip In Heaven seems to be Cummins attempt at finding closure following a tragic incident involving her brother and two of their cousins. The story line prompts heart-pounding and fury over the brutality and injustice. However, the author seems to write herself into the plot when her role has no support on the incident recounted. Things move quickly until she finds it necessary to pull back and share her own irrelevant experience in a third-person narrative. Perhaps my opinion is blunt consider...

This is a non-fiction account of a terrible crime that the author lived through via her family. It's a riveting story, albeit heartbreaking. I hope writing it exorcised much of the pain she was enduring. I listened to the audio book, read by the author.

Jeanine Cummins tells of the tragic true story that took place in my hometown about her brother and her two female cousins who were victims of crime and murder. One of the family members survives the tragedy, but continued to go through attacks by the local authorities and the media by making false accusations. When the real perpetrators were found, convicted of the crimes they committed, and then given the death penalty, the media made the perpetrators out to be the victims. My heart ached for

I sort of liked this book while I was reading it, but like other readers, was annoyed by the author's choice to use the third person. I empathize with the author but after I read the book, I researched the case a little and found some holes in the story and facts that she omitted. I know she is a family member but I expected a little more objectivity. I found her canonization of the victims to be a little annoying too. there are websites out there devoted to this case that I found interesting an...

I added this book to my reading list because Jeanine Cummins’ book “American Dirt” was one of the best books I read in 2020. This book is a non-fiction account of a crime that struck her family in 1991. It made me feel so many different emotions, and is so well written. I was gripped by it and couldn’t put it down. She is an amazing storyteller!

Jeanine Cummins and her brother and sister had always believed themselves to be invincible; tough street-wise teenagers who were entirely capable of taking care of themselves. The truth was that these supposedly 'street-smart' city kids could not have been living a more sheltered childhood. Truly, life in the big city could never have prepared Tom, Jeanine, and Kathy Cummins for anything. Indeed, nothing could have ever prepared the Cummins family for the type of brutality that they were about t...

Going into this, as a person who often reads and listens to books and true crime podcasts, I didn’t know what to expect. The first few chapters I found myself wondering and speculating as to what the horrible tragedy would be, and I was not prepared for the well written journey the author presented. She seamlessly inserts the reader into the roller coaster of the mundane every day activities any one of us experience with our own families to the unbelievable and surreal acts of violence, injustic...

This was tough going just because it was so incredibly sad, even for a true-crime story. Impeccably written. Unlike so many such stories written by people close to the disaster, it covered a great deal of territory (even Ricki Lake's two cents) and did so in a satisfying, enlightening way. I got this used and the book had already been read to tatters by the time it came into my hands. I can see why. Highly recommended.

I don't think True Crime is a genre for me.

For true crime lovers, this is a must read! Very well done. Jeanine Cummins is so readable, and she kept the story riveting. Most true crime books get a little dull during the courtroom scenes, and these were kept to a minimum. It's a tough read though because it is so incredibly sad.