Jeanine Cummins A Rip In Heaven

A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins is described as memoir written about murder and its aftermath. Throughout the book a third person point of view displayed the background stories of the victims of murder and assault, the children and family it effected, and the assailants themselves. A Rip in Heaven establishes a timeline of the events starting on a night in April with the extended family of the victims - Julie and Robin Kerry, and Thomas (Tom) Cummins. From that night on the Kerry and Cummins family were changed forever. Tom, Julie, and Robin snuck out to the Chain of Rocks Bridge, where Julie and Robin were forcibly raped and pushed off a bridge while Tom was assaulted and threatened to be shot if he didn’t jump by Marlin Gray, Daniel Winfrey, Reginald Clemmons, and Antonio Richardson. Tom survived the fall and was taken in by the St. Louis Police where he was interrogated and arrested. Shortly after Tom had been arrested, new evidence was found that led the detectives to Antonio Richardson, who eventually confessed leading the police to rest of the group involved in the assault. Throughout the rest of the book Cummins does her best to show the aftermath of the violent tragedy, including the trials and conviction of the attackers and the funerals of the

One way Jeanine Cummins accomplishes this is telling the background stories of the people involved in the incident. Starting with the victims of the assault Cummins describes what Julie, Robin, and Tom where like before the murder. Julie was a poet and advocate for justice for everyone no matter who they are, Robin was avidly involved in food drives for families in need, and Tom was a fireman who just wanted to fit in. By telling their stories and showing their interests in humanitarian efforts Cummins helped readers to feel more connected to the teens and therefore invoke stronger emotions for the