The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha is a story about Irene and Nate Stanley, who move with their children, Bliss and Shep, from their small Illinois town for a job in Oregon.  The choice has disastrous consequences when Shep is killed during an apparent home robbery.  The story then follows the family as they deal with the loss in the years directly following the crime.  It also transitions back and forth to the story of Shep's killer during his final days on death row.  Irene begins communicating with her son's killer, and secrets about what really happened begin to come out.

This is definitely a page-turner, and the transitions between characters and time are smooth and easy to follow.  The author's political views are quite obvious, and there are some pretty strong stereotypes.  Ummm...people from small towns as conservative rednecks lacks creativity.  I also expected the twist very early on, although it was still interesting to watch it all unfold.  Without giving spoilers I will say that I think the storyline for Bliss got off track, and that knocked my overall rating of the book down a bit.  I'd give it a 3.5/5.