Amy R. (AmyMarie) - , reviewed on + 46 more book reviews
This was my first book by this author (and will be the last, as well). As a fan of authors like Tami Hoag and Lisa Gardner, I know there has to be a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. But the amount of disbelief you will need in order to enjoy this book is absurd. I could blather on all day about small inconsistencies, but let me just lay down the two biggest issues up front (includes spoilers):
1. The main character's dyslexia is so severe he is functionally illiterate. He can't read street signs, doesn't recognize even the simplest of words, and literally can't tell his left from his right (I'm not exaggerating -- the fact that he can't tell left from right is brought up multiple times). And yet we're supposed to believe he somehow became an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Maybe reading the first book in the series would have convinced me, but given the amount of rigorous testing required to enter these types of programs... no. Not possible. Maybe somebody with a milder case of dyslexia, but not somebody who can't even figure out which button to push in an elevator.
2. A high school teacher is arrested and charged with statutory rape for having sex with a minor. He's not only had sex with multiple students, he's also abused them, beaten them, left bite marks all over them, and forced them to do awful things. He also has a house full of "barely legal" child pornography. And yet he miraculously settles out of court with nobody in the media ever catching on). Somehow, his name is "accidentally" added to the sex offender database. And yet afterwards, he still gets a job teaching at an upscale, very expensive private school because NOBODY KNEW about the previous charges. Seriously? We're supposed to believe that not a single reporter latched onto the story of a high school teacher seducing and abusing his students? That in a background check, there was no mention of this legal battle? That through multiple years, not one parent in this rich, upper-class community checked the sex offenders in their area and noticed their kid's teacher there? While all of this is going on, he takes a second job tutoring at the local college (despite being listed as a sex offender) and does the same thing to a student there. He's fired (again, without the student or her parents ever reporting this to the press or to his other employer). He files a suit against the college for firing him, using up every penny he has to fight them. (Why? He knows he's guilty. If he's trying to keep from being caught, it's far more likely he would have slunk quietly away). And yet again, not one reporter catches wind of this and blows the whole thing wide open? Not one victim or friend or parent of a victim talks to the press OR to his current employer? We're supposed to believe the college involved is so afraid of this ridiculous lawsuit that they don't tell the press about a predator teaching at a local high school. One of his former victims even ends up teaching at the same school as him, and yet not even she alerts authorities to the danger? Give me a break. There are WAY too many people involved at this point for it to all stay a secret. This whole thing is a reporter's wet dream. There is absolutely no way it all stays quiet and out of the media for this many years, just like there is also no way nobody in the community spots his name in the sex offender database for this many years.
On top of all that, the dialogue is weak, often making little sense. (Example: A person being questioned says of his coworker, "He can't spell." Trent then asks, "What do you mean by that?" Seriously? Are there multiple meanings to a statement like that?) The characters do absurd things. (At one point, Trent gathers the teachers of the victims to question them, but instead of asking pertinent questions, he asks questions about his own dyslexia, then leaves the room without explanation AND without having asked a single question about the victims.)
I said I wasn't going to blather on, and yet here I am. This turned into such a hate read for me, I can't help it. After reading Gardner's books (which may not be perfect, but are well researched and don't rely on the reader accepting the most ridiculous of premises), this book was a huge disappointment.
1. The main character's dyslexia is so severe he is functionally illiterate. He can't read street signs, doesn't recognize even the simplest of words, and literally can't tell his left from his right (I'm not exaggerating -- the fact that he can't tell left from right is brought up multiple times). And yet we're supposed to believe he somehow became an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Maybe reading the first book in the series would have convinced me, but given the amount of rigorous testing required to enter these types of programs... no. Not possible. Maybe somebody with a milder case of dyslexia, but not somebody who can't even figure out which button to push in an elevator.
2. A high school teacher is arrested and charged with statutory rape for having sex with a minor. He's not only had sex with multiple students, he's also abused them, beaten them, left bite marks all over them, and forced them to do awful things. He also has a house full of "barely legal" child pornography. And yet he miraculously settles out of court with nobody in the media ever catching on). Somehow, his name is "accidentally" added to the sex offender database. And yet afterwards, he still gets a job teaching at an upscale, very expensive private school because NOBODY KNEW about the previous charges. Seriously? We're supposed to believe that not a single reporter latched onto the story of a high school teacher seducing and abusing his students? That in a background check, there was no mention of this legal battle? That through multiple years, not one parent in this rich, upper-class community checked the sex offenders in their area and noticed their kid's teacher there? While all of this is going on, he takes a second job tutoring at the local college (despite being listed as a sex offender) and does the same thing to a student there. He's fired (again, without the student or her parents ever reporting this to the press or to his other employer). He files a suit against the college for firing him, using up every penny he has to fight them. (Why? He knows he's guilty. If he's trying to keep from being caught, it's far more likely he would have slunk quietly away). And yet again, not one reporter catches wind of this and blows the whole thing wide open? Not one victim or friend or parent of a victim talks to the press OR to his current employer? We're supposed to believe the college involved is so afraid of this ridiculous lawsuit that they don't tell the press about a predator teaching at a local high school. One of his former victims even ends up teaching at the same school as him, and yet not even she alerts authorities to the danger? Give me a break. There are WAY too many people involved at this point for it to all stay a secret. This whole thing is a reporter's wet dream. There is absolutely no way it all stays quiet and out of the media for this many years, just like there is also no way nobody in the community spots his name in the sex offender database for this many years.
On top of all that, the dialogue is weak, often making little sense. (Example: A person being questioned says of his coworker, "He can't spell." Trent then asks, "What do you mean by that?" Seriously? Are there multiple meanings to a statement like that?) The characters do absurd things. (At one point, Trent gathers the teachers of the victims to question them, but instead of asking pertinent questions, he asks questions about his own dyslexia, then leaves the room without explanation AND without having asked a single question about the victims.)
I said I wasn't going to blather on, and yet here I am. This turned into such a hate read for me, I can't help it. After reading Gardner's books (which may not be perfect, but are well researched and don't rely on the reader accepting the most ridiculous of premises), this book was a huge disappointment.
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