The Scent of Rain by Anne Montgomery

This was a rather chilling read because when I got to the end of the book, I discovered that many of the details of the book "came directly from Flora Jessop, who allowed [the author] to interview at length about her experiences with the FLDS."

The Scent of Rain is about a lot of things. There's a dead body, there's a runaway boy, there are some sort of mysterious vitamins, there are missing people, and there's Rose. Not all these questions will be answered (perhaps the author is preparing for a second book?) but the most important one, about Rose's future, is.

What's so important about Rose? Well, she's different. She's a little rebellious and that's a huge no-no in the community. Her mother absolutely hates it, and even though her father loves her, even he won't go against the Prophet. And when the Prophet (just out of prison too) decides that all pets must be killed, Rose ends up running away rather than help her sister kill her beloved pet.

This story was terrifying because of the characters. The Prophet is obviously evil and a pedophile, but what's probably more frightening are the banally evil characters (to borrow a phrase). Rose's mother is a harsh woman, but would she have been so harsh if she did not listen to the Prophet? Rose's father loves her and her sisters, but would Rose have to run away if he stood up for her? These two side characters basically represent all the people in the community, because there are two ways that you can react to people and (mild spoiler alert) they both react differently.

While there are a lot of questions that are left unanswered, I thought that this had a satisfying, if almost too pat, ending. There was a lot of ground to cover, and the author even threw in a twist or two, which meant that some sections felt a bit forced. But since most of the book was really well-written, I didn't really mind. It was just something I noticed because I finished the book in two sittings (I read as much as possible when I don't have to work).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I hope that the author is planning to write a sequel because I'm really curious about all the questions that she didn't answer.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.