Distilling Lies: Small Town Secrets (4.5 Stars)

In July, I won a Kindle copy of Distilling Lies by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham. I finished reading it a few days ago. This book, which I got through a Goodreads Giveaway, came out in May. The story takes place in Texas during the time of Prohibition.

The Basic Plot

Distilling Lies has kind of a slow pace at times, but the slow pace actually works surprisingly well. The basic plot is that Emma June’s mom, Bernice, has an argument with Betty, the mom’s close friend. That night, Bernice disappears. While the reader knows at least part of the reason for the argument fairly early in the novel, Emma June, her dad, and most of the other characters don’t know what happened. The rest of the book is spent trying to figure out what happened to Bernice. I found myself throwing around several theories in my head early on. Our two main characters are Emma June and Frank. Frank’s a new guy in town, who’s got a bit of a secret. A little over 60% of the chapters are from Emma June’s point of view, and the other chapters are from Frank’s point of view.

Reader Warnings

This book does have some swearing. For most of the book, there’s not a lot, but there are a few chapters, particularly those where the “bad guys” make more of an appearance, where the swearing is more prevalent. The violence is not graphic, but there are characters who are seriously injured or killed. When it comes to sexual content, we know that a few characters were raped or were almost raped, but we don’t get the details of the incidents.

As a warning to readers, along with rape, there are several topics that might be difficult for some readers to handle. Racism, including the KKK, is an issue that’s addressed. While it happened before the beginning of the book, the book talks about someone who was lynched a few years ago.

There is a main character who has an intellectual disability, and there are some people who make fun of him or mistreat him. He’s actually probably my favorite character.

Moonshining during the time of Prohibition is a big theme in the book. There is also some blackmailing and bribery going on. I think that covers all the major areas that might be difficult for some readers.

This book is worth reading, so I won’t ruin the plot. I will say, though, that this does not have a bit of a bittersweet ending. If that’s not something you can handle, you’ll likely want to pass on this book.