Another has had his sentence reversed to life in prison, and a third had his sentence thrown out by the Supreme Court. It really scares me to read how quickly the media forgot the deaths and focused instead on the killers and what was happening to them. And it’s true that much true crime, inadvertently or otherwise, foregrounds the murderer – and the crime – in a way that’s morally murky and obliterates the victim’s personhood. Perhaps my opinion is blunt considering the non-fictional premise of this book but, from a literary standpoint, the inclusion of her own self-proclaimed importance is unnecessary and annoying.

What do you think of the author’s statement that perhaps the death penalty is wrong “Because it trivializes the people who should matter the most. He willed himself to move forward but he felt stuck, mesmerized by the menacing old bridge that loomed up before him. Moreover, she takes what could be cold, dry factual information from "court documents, police records, electronic media" and her own interviews and deftly weaves them into a compelling, novel-like account. A Rip In Heaven seems to be Cummins attempt at finding closure following a tragic incident involving her brother and two of their cousins.

On April 5th, the last night of their holiday, Tom decides to sneak out with his two cousins to embark on the most innocent of escapades: to see where wannabe poet Julie had graffitied a poem on the old Chain of Rocks Bridge, a local landmark once part of Route 66 but disused and superseded by a more modern bridge nearby. When police later begin to question his account of the night’s events, it’s partly because the odds of surviving the fall and the swim were believed to be slim. Tom was treated like a dog; a cop literally whistled for Tom to come over and patted his knee saying “come here boy”, Tom just ignored them and stuck with what he had been saying all along, that he was innocent. The cops soon leak to the press that they suspect Tom of attempting to rape Julie and that the resultant struggle saw all three cousins fall into the river.

The river moans and sighs, Swallows my memoiries, And spits back currents of regret, To drown careless swimmers, 'Neath onion's shield, She sheds saltless tears, Howling at the moon. Through her own journey towards healing, Cummins offers powerful insights into the complexities of grief, forgiveness, and the pursuit of justice. Rather than wallowing in self-pity or succumbing to defeat, it is within our control to choose resilience, resilience, and growth. I also didn't leave with much insight into the case and the police work that was actually done to pursue and find the perpetrators.If I could change the past I would have wanted Robin and Julie to live, so there legacy could live on.