Listen by Rene Gutteridge - Re-post and a giveaway

I posted this review back on the 20th, and was so impressed with the book that I contacted the author to see if she'd do a giveaway. She agreed, so here it is again, giveaway details at the end of the review.

Nothing ever happens in the small town of Marlo . . . until the residents begin seeing their private conversations posted online for everyone to read. Then it’s neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, as paranoia and violence escalate. The police scramble to identify the person responsible for the posts and pull the plug on the Website before it destroys the town. But what responsibility do the people of the town have for the words they say when they think no one is listening? Life and death are in the power of the tongue.

I have read books by Rene Gutteridge before, and a lot of her books are lighthearted, funny mysteries. This one is more serious in nature, but was still an excellent read. The book starts out with someone hanging herself, mostly due to cruel words she overheard about herself, and then goes into the main story. Someone in the town is posting people's private conversations on the internet for everyone to read. No one knows who this "listener" is, and the longer it goes on, the more trouble it causes.

More  than one person becomes suspect, and when the guilty person was revealed, I was more than surprised, I was shocked.

This is more than just a mystery/suspense book - it shows how serious our words are, how people can be hurt by them, and hopefully by the end of the book, the reader will be more determined to be more careful about their own words.

About the author:

Rene Gutteridge is the author of sixteen novels, including the Storm series (Tyndale House Publishers) and Never the Bride, the Boo series, and the Occupational Hazards series from WaterBrook Press. She also released My Life as a Doormat and The Ultimate Gift: The Novelization with Thomas Nelson. Rene is also known for her Christian comedy sketches. She studied screenwriting while earning a mass communications degree, graduating magna cum laude from Oklahoma City University and earning the Excellence in Mass Communication Award. She served as the full-time director of drama for First United Methodist Church for five years before leaving to stay home and write. She enjoys instructing at writers conferences and in college classrooms. She lives with her husband, Sean, a musician, and their children in Oklahoma City. Visit her Web site at http://www.renegutteridge.com/.

The Giveaway:

This giveaway will run for one week - I will pick a winner on February 3rd. To enter, comment and tell me if you have ever read a book by Rene Gutteridge, and if so, list one you have read.

Open to US only.

Listen is available from Tyndale Publishing.
Read the first chapter here.

Thanks to Tyndale Publishing for the review copy they provided me.