Shattered Bonds: A True Story of Suspicious Death, Family Betrayal and a Daughter's Courage

by Julie Malear and Cindy Band

Book Overview

When sixteen-year-old Cindy Band returns home late one night, she finds her home teeming with police and her mother dead at the bottom of the basement stairs, supposedly the victim of an accident. In the days that follow, she sees signs that her father is not the grieving husband her professes to be. Suspicious, she goes to the police. With danger and violent threats mounting against her, Cindy bravely pursues her mother's killer and fights to achieve...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0882822217
• ISBN13: 9780882822211
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: New Horizon Press Publishers, Incorporated
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

BELIEVE IT OR NOT...YOU WILL LIKE THIS ONE !

My wife read this book first and she told me that this one and Angela's Ashes are the best books she has read in her lifetime. WOW. I just finished "Bonds" and agree it is most interesting though I can't rate it quite as high as my wife. You know who "did it" from the beginning of the story, but the ramifications as the story unfolds keeps you riveted. You won't put this book down 'til you're finished.

A Different Kind of True Crime Book

Although I don't read many true crime stories, I loved this one. While visiting Mom in Iowa, I heard Cindy Band (the girl who the book is about) being interviewed on the radio. She sounded so cute and made her story sound so good, I went out and bought the book. She had said her coauthor Julie Malear did all the writing. It was exceptional writing because it definitely made Cindy come alive for me. I related to what happened in Shattered Bonds so much I stayed up all night to finish it. Poor Cindy. She was so brave. She sure didn't deserve what happened. Being in my twenties, I thought the book was cool, but I think both younger and older,(really any age) readers would enjoy it, too. I bet it will be a movie. It's true, too. That's what really gets you.

Gripping Tale of Tragedy

Imagine being 16 years old and finding your mother dead at the bottom of a staircase. Imagine the horror of arriving at the conclusion that she died at the hands of your own father. Imagine life when you're rebuffed by your own relatives when you persist -- gingerly at first, and then with increasing resolve -- in seeing the truth brought to light. Those are the pivotal points in "Shattered Bonds," a riveting account by Julie Malear of the tragedy that irrevocably altered young Cindy Band's life. Don't expect to walk away from the book unaffected. Ms. Malear's compassionate rendering will remind you that most murders involve not celebrities, but everyday people who suffer a numbing impact far beyond the intial media reports. But the story is more than that. It's one of courage and endurance in the most catastrophic of circumstances. You won't find it an easy book to put down. You will find it an easy book from which to draw inspiration.Highly recommended.

A Must Read

You have to read this. I bought it at 7:30 PM. I finished it at 2:30 AM. It's so difficult to believe that this is a true story. The horror, the reality, and finally the courage of Cindy Band is remarkable. The beauty and the soul of which it is written by Julie Malear has never been matched in any book that I have ever picked up. When they say fact can be stranger than fiction, this book was in mind. No author could come up with a story like this. And to think the monster lived among us.

Shattered Bonds

A real "page-turner". Julie Malear writes Cindy Band's tramatic real life drama with great care and compassion. I recommend this true life story for those who don't realize how fortunate they are. Reading this book awakens you to how very blessed you really are. Read it, now!