Search - Salt of the Earth: A Mother, a Daughter, a Murder

This book was well-written and easy to follow with none of the boring slumps that sometimes go hand in hand with some true crime novels. I really liked how this book started at the beginning of the Gere's and Mayszak's lives and crescendoed, versus the crime being described in full, vivid detail in chapter one like most books in this genre. By the time we actually got to Brenda's disappearance, I felt as if I knew the family quite intimately and I was emotionally attached and affected as well.

The only time I grew restless with this book was when we had to read about scumbag Mike Green's biography toward the end. Thankfully Olsen kept it short and brief enough and we were able to arrive at Brenda's discovery. Along the way, I was also saddened deeply by Joe's demise.

I am truly impressed by Elaine and the way she was able to cope with Brenda's disappearance, Joe's alcoholism, and continuing to successfully raise her sons. What a story! I was so into this book that my eyes became teary when Elaine found out what had happened to Brenda and she was able to seek closure. I was really happy for her.

I am so glad I got to read this book! I loved it all the way through.

[review I wrote about 10 years ago]

The title of this book refers neither to the murderer who destroyed the hard-won tranquility of a young couple and their three children, nor to the 12-yr-old victim, but to the victim's mother. Without subtracting an iota from the uniqueness of her story, Jack Olsen portrays Elaine Gere as one of those heroically strong American women whose lives usually pass unheralded. We follow her indomitable spirit from a childhood in squalor, to marriage and family, to the disappearance of her daughter, through the baffling and enervating aftermath of a high-profile crime, through the years when her devastated husband flounders in alcoholism and turns violent, to the final healing of her broken family. David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars, writes, "Salt of the Earth constitutes a literary achievement of the highest order. It is the complexity of life, its mystery and beauty, its violence and love and terrible strangeness, that Jack Olsen forces to confront here."

Great book. Jack Olsen was a great true crime writer. This book is truly one of the saddest I have ever read. You will not be able to put it down.

This was an excellent read. Although you know the killer almost immediately after the crime, it is still keeps you going. The in depth story of the family and the affects it had on them is so heartbreaking. One can only imagine how a tragedy of this magnitude would affect the family and others close. I think this is the first book that I read that devoted so much time to the victims rather than the criminal. A sad story well told and makes me realize how we are all connected as humans to our neighbors and friends.

If you like true crime, you'll love this book. This book is both horrifying and uplifting. I had a hard time putting it down!