Jessiey
Posted October 24, 2011
Very engaging book! Love the concept of an organization hiding within another company with the goal of getting sex offenders off the street. Loved the characters, even if they were a little *too* perfect. Can't wait to read more from this author!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Citizen Out opens with a ghastly scene, a predator spying a group of little girls, picturing what he could possibly do with one of them, and then choosing who will be his willing, in his sick mind, partner. The plan is to enjoy her even up to the moments of her death. It's a breath-stopping scene and makes the reader disgusted and then horrified - that is until the mind-jolting second when the perpetrator is hit in the neck with a death-dealing knife. A sigh of relief pervades the reader's being, for this death is preferable to the suffering an otherwise innocent young girl would have endured prior to her death and her family's devastating reaction.
Sound implausible? Not. For in spite of Amber alerts and vigilant neighbor watches, etc., little girls and boys are being abducted, abused, tortured and sometimes murdered, leaving behind scars and grieving beyond description. This is a fictional story that could become reality, a group of citizens who are highly trained, globally connected, and motivated to stop each "mark" as the perps are called before each devastating crime begins, not after.
Kevin and Celeste are one team of this team of citizens with a lovely family and a good marriage. In fact, it's the one point in this book that was rather annoying, not that they were happy but the way the author expresses dialogue is very stilted and almost artificial, plainly unnatural. The point is obviously this juxtaposition of happy family versus the sickos destroying families but it needs to be more relaxed and normal. Anyway, several plot lines now begin to follow.
The first is Kevin and Celeste managing their schedule as they work for this company behind the citizens, the second the method of seeking and gaining new recruits in the characters of Seth and Veronica, and the third is some rather public figures and hoods involved in the marketing of children.
The message is very clear, the scenes in part are riveting. Finally, there is one unplanned event that changes everything at the end of the novel, which leaves the reader assured of another tale in these chronicles. In spite of many construction flaws, this is a novel that leaves readers with a multitude of disturbing but vital thoughts, feelings, and questions, with possible acceptable and perhaps not so welcome answers flitting through the former. Unique and significant issue presented in novel form for sure!
I enjoyed the many story lines going on at one time. You have a group of people with their eye on predators. These are not your ordinary people. They belong to a company that has worked hard to identify these people and then permanently stop them from hurting another child. From the very beginning of this book I was hooked. We are in the mind of a predator who has been watching a group of children. He goes through a long thought process to pick that one particular child. He justifies everything in his mind. You get a look at how sick he really is. Just when you want to scream for the child to run, someone from the Company steps in and takes care of the predator, known as the
"mark". I can understand why people would belong to an organization like this. I'm not sure I could justify their behavior or actions in real life.
This author does a great job with the creation of her characters. She also does a wonderful job of getting to your emotions. This is a book that will keep you reading and trying to stay ahead f the action. It is a book that grabs your emotions. If you've ever known anyone, especially a child, who was a victim of abuse, or went missing then your emotions are ratcheted ever higher the further you go into this book. This is a book that everyone I know of would enjoy. It has the ability to pull people in from all genres simply because of its topic. If I were to give out stars I'd give this a 5 for the great writing, the believability, and the ability to give you closure and hope for those news stories that haunt us. I look forward to seeing what this author comes out with next.
Overview
However, what this predator does not know is that he, too, is being stalked. There is someone in the shadows—a trained Citizen—who is ready to make sure that the child under his assigned protection is never harmed. ...