This is another re-read, rescued from the read books pile during Lynn's recent trip over. And once again I am reminded on how many series books there are - or at least, that I read.
Bo Bradley is a child abuse investigator - compassionate, hard-working and intolerant of stupidity (especially as embodied by her supervisor Madge, who cares only about the rules and damn the consequences), Bo is also bipolar, and is taking a break from lithium.
This is the second of the Bo Bradley novels. Written in the early nineties, it deals with a then-headline topic: satanic child abuse. Three year old Samantha was so violently raped that she sustained internal injuries and died - her abdomen was decorated with a yellow face that an alert person linked to recent publicity of satanic markings, there's a conference in town for health professionals to recognise satanic abuse, an expert's conducting media interviews on Samantha's case, and Samantha's father Paul (who belongs to a weird cult) has vanished, along with Samantha's older sister Hannah, while mother Bonnie's been admitted to a psych unit.
As well as an interesting and engaging story, peopled with a variety of well-developed characters, Padgett does a fantastic job of weaving in the reality of living with a mental illness. Bo is not incapacitated by her disease, but her world view is unquestionably and inextricably coloured by it. It's refreshing to have a depiction of someone with a mental illness who is not only functioning, competent, proficient and professional, but also better than her colleagues. And Bo's frustration of having her judgement constantly criticised or doubted because of her diagnosis is palpable.
So much did I enjoy rereading Strawgirl that I'm going to hunt out the other Padgett novels I have, and see if there's anything new out there. - Alex
Bo Bradley is a child abuse investigator - compassionate, hard-working and intolerant of stupidity (especially as embodied by her supervisor Madge, who cares only about the rules and damn the consequences), Bo is also bipolar, and is taking a break from lithium.
This is the second of the Bo Bradley novels. Written in the early nineties, it deals with a then-headline topic: satanic child abuse. Three year old Samantha was so violently raped that she sustained internal injuries and died - her abdomen was decorated with a yellow face that an alert person linked to recent publicity of satanic markings, there's a conference in town for health professionals to recognise satanic abuse, an expert's conducting media interviews on Samantha's case, and Samantha's father Paul (who belongs to a weird cult) has vanished, along with Samantha's older sister Hannah, while mother Bonnie's been admitted to a psych unit.
As well as an interesting and engaging story, peopled with a variety of well-developed characters, Padgett does a fantastic job of weaving in the reality of living with a mental illness. Bo is not incapacitated by her disease, but her world view is unquestionably and inextricably coloured by it. It's refreshing to have a depiction of someone with a mental illness who is not only functioning, competent, proficient and professional, but also better than her colleagues. And Bo's frustration of having her judgement constantly criticised or doubted because of her diagnosis is palpable.
So much did I enjoy rereading Strawgirl that I'm going to hunt out the other Padgett novels I have, and see if there's anything new out there. - Alex
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