If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
Author(s):
Janine Latus
Label: Simon & Schuster
Publisher(s):
Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Binding: Hardcover
Format(s): Bargain Price
List Price: $25.00
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Editorial Reviews
Product Description
In April 2002, Janine Latus's youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved, it read, but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...
That same spring Janine Latus was struggling to leave her marriage -- a marriage to a handsome and successful man. A marriage others emulated. A marriage in which she felt she could do nothing right and everything wrong. A marriage in which she felt afraid, controlled, inadequate, and trapped.
Ten weeks later, Janine Latus had left her marriage. She was on a business trip to the East Coast, savoring her freedom, attending a work conference, when she received a call from her sister Jane asking if she'd heard from Amy. Immediately, Janine's blood ran cold. Amy was missing.
Helicopters went up and search dogs went out. Coworkers and neighbors and family members plastered missing posters with Amy's picture across the county. It took more than two weeks to find Amy's body, wrapped in a tarpaulin and buried at a building site. It took nearly two years before her killer, her former boyfriend Ron Ball, was sentenced for her murder.
Amy died in silent fear and pain. Haunted by this, Janine Latus turned her journalistic eye inward. How, she wondered, did two seemingly well-adjusted, successful women end up in strings of physically or emotionally abusive relationships with men? If I Am Missing or Dead is a heart-wrenching journey of discovery as Janine Latus traces the roots of her own -- and her sister's -- victimization with unflinching candor. This beautifully written memoir will move readers from the first to the last page. At once a confession, a call to break the cycle of abuse, and a deeply felt love letter to her baby sister, Amy Lynne Latus, If I Am Missing or Dead is an unforgettable read.
Customer Reviews
IF I AM MISSING OR DEAD
I enjoyed this book, although its ending brought me to tears. Especially if you have ever been in an abusive relationship, the stories of the two bad marriages and relationships in this book are very emotional. I like the author's writing style and honesty. Totally liked the book; it held my full attention.
Drama, drama, drama ...
Yikes. What a drama queen this author is. I am still puzzling over the 1/8 of the story that she gave over to her sister's sad story (although the title/back of the book leads the reader to believe that it is entirely about her sister). The rest of the story is a series of bad, creepy, violent and strange acts that happen to the author. It makes you cringe. Then there are the parts where you are just plain irritated that she can't even see how shallow she is (or maybe she does, and she just doesn't care). So, you go from feeling bad for her, to feeling frustrated because you're already too deep into the book to quit reading now (and you think maybe, just maybe, we'll get to the part about her sister that you bought the dang book for in the first place). Feels like the author wanted to write about herself from the beginning, but couldn't find an editor that would allow that, so she framed it as a book about her sister.
It's a compulsively readable book (mostly because she's a train wreck), and while I like the way that she writes, WHAT she writes about just has me shaking my head and wondering if she will find a way to be happy in her life, and to find some semblence of peace. Recommended (and two stars) only for the writing style, but not for content.
Enthralling once you get into it.
I didn't think I would be too into this book - I haven't come across many good books lately. I picked this up for a quick read. I was mostly afraid I'd be bored by court cases and facts and figures. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that was not the case.
People have said in reviews that this book was more about her sister than Amy. I took it a different way - I think if the author had talked about Amy's life, we wouldn't fully understand how Amy allowed herself to be in this relationship. I think the author used her own relationship as a way of explaining how it can come that you can be sucked into an abusive relationship. Then when it happens to Amy, you don't wonder about the backlog so much - backlog that the author wouldn't have had anyhow. I was able to take the author's abusive relationship and assume something similiar had happened to Amy.
This book was good because it did what I like books to do - snuck something in that I didn't quite catch until the end. (well if I hadn't read about what happened to Amy - which, btw, the title does kind of give it away!). But when I was reading it you keep waiting to hear more about Amy but before you know it, you're enthralled with the content and not so concerned about Amy. I actually stopped midway through to make sure it was Amy that disappeared and not the author (sorry I can't remember her name...).
Anyhow, I am almost at the end and am anxiously waiting to see how it goes from there.
ONLY COMPLAINT - the pictures weren't labeled and I love following the pictures that correspond with the story. Some were obviously Amy and obviously the author, but some I'm not sure who they are.
Excellent book!
I am at a loss to understand why some were disappointed in Ms. Latus' book. I would venture to guess they thought they were buying a book about a murder, but if you read the jacket close enough, it never claims to be a book solely about Amy's tragic death. I found the reader was actually getting many stories in one book, with the overall theme of domestic violence. The characters are superbly portrayed, in spite of the lack of information about Jenine's mother's life, which, admittedly, I would have liked to hear. Ms. Latus did a fine job of illustrating that domestic violence can cross many different income and educational levels. Congrats to her! I look foward to her next book.
Every woman should read
This book touched me in ways I never could have fathomed. Every woman should read this book and feel lucky if they have never been abused by a man. They should read it to be able to recognize and help other women in need. The author went years without realizing or understanding that she was being abused until her own sister was violently murdered. I will read any other book by Ms. Latus.
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