Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer (Radcliffe Biography Series) 2nd Printing Nov 198 edition by Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara (1988) Hardcover Hardcover

"A Balm in Gilead" by Marie Green McKeon takes its title from the African-American spiritual: There is a balm in Gilead/To make the wounded whole/There is a balm in Gilead/ To heal the sin-sick soul." Quinn Carlisle is desperately in need of healing. When the book opens, she has lived for nearly ten years with the traumatic aftermath of a violent attack and raping. "At one time," she says, "I believed there must be a secret to reassembling the pieces of a life. A trick I could conjure up, a technique I had only to learn." Only there isn't. And then something happens to turn that numbness and haunting fear into wild and violent reality.With mounting tension McKeon describes the long undercurrent of vulnerability that impinges on everything in Quinn's life and the sudden sharp insertions of imminent evil. At times the changes in pace are unsettling, but that is precisely how time has treated Quinn—sluggishly creeping as she attempts to firm up her life, give it focus and fresh air, and then the moment by moment fast forwarding of confrontation. When Quinn was a child, if something unexpected happened, she was apt to freeze. Just knowing that is enough to make the reader flinch at what seems all too inevitable.There are men in Quinn's life and we don't know how to take them at first. Quinn never openly states her distrust, but we can't help but feel nervous. The justice system has treated her badly, the resident cop is a misanthrope, and Joe? we aren't all too sure. Nothing is simple in Quinn's world except the danger.bookreview.com finds "A Balm in Gilead" far more than just a successful thriller. It is a very fine novel.

I ditched hours of housework and read this book over three cups of coffee on a quiet Saturday morning. This story of victims, healing, justice denied moves like lightening. Ms. McKeon's characters are the focus of the book, and they are drawn realistically, not always doing, thinking or feeling what you want them to, which was to me, very compelling.

A great novel! Couldn't put it down! Read it on a trip out to California and found my heart racing a few times! Great job Marie!

A page-turner from start to finish! I especially liked Grimaldi, the world-weary detective, and hope he gets spun off into his own series.

Excellent story. I could not put this book down. I can't wait to read this author's next book!

This book is terrible, over dramatic and just pointless. The author has no idea what its like to live with PTSD because the scenes where she describes it are terrible. Just another suburban housewife who thinks because she can string sentences together she's a writer. I would highly recommend this book if your table or chairs are wobbly.

i read a lot of books and lose interest fast if I don't like the characters. That is not the case with this novel. I couldn't put it down! I actually had to check to see if it was an autobiography because of the vividness of the story. The author did a great job describing everything the main character was feeling! I identified with the main character because I believe that I would act and think the way she did if the same events happened to me. Very believable.

A Balm in Gilead takes you through one girl's journey from victim to survivor. The action sequences rivet you with a first-person-view intensity and are moored in a well-textured world where the characters' struggles and battles with inner demons feel just as visceral. There's a rough-edged dimensionality to even characters that are expected and necessary -- like the road-worn police detective -- that bring them to life and keep them with you long long after you've put the book down.