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nicole5045's review against another edition
2.0
The author is a distant relative of mine but yikes. This book was disturbing. I read it at a young age which adds to my distaste for it.
ncrabb's review against another edition
4.0
This is an unflinching look at child abduction and child abuse, and this author doesn’t allow you the luxury of turning away and coming back after a fade-to-black scene. You get it all—splayed out in all its ugliness to stare down if you can. That said, rest assured there are no graphic scenes here that include forcible anal sex or anything like that. But what descriptions do exist are ugly indeed.
Billy is 12 that summer. He can go from 0 to super-sonic just by thinking about fellow classmate Amanda. But he’s a computer geek—almost surely not the kind of guy someone like her would want. In short, he’s a normal nerd. Lots of us can relate to being 12, nerdy, and dreaming afar off about the girl who could change the world if she weren’t so busy rejecting yours.
Billy first sees the fat, smelly guy in the mall playing arcade games. He doesn’t think much of it, but he’s a bit creeped out by the guy. Billy, on the other hand, entirely captivates Barton. For Barton, Billy is the perfect child. He’s that one in a trillion boy who could help Barton have a complete and perfect family. And Royal Barton’s sure the boy would love Barton’s place in southern California with its soundproof room perfect for keeping young boys like him captive while he works his will on them.
It's a warm summer night, and Billy can’t sleep. He has been trying for days to capture and digitize the sound of the bird singing at night in his yard. He’s using his state-of-the-art Amiga computer to digitize the sound and show him the wave forms. His goal? To replicate the sound with his own whistles so the bird will respond specifically to Billy. He reasons if he can get his own whistles to look like those the bird makes, he’ll get a response from the bird.
Royal Barton has surreptitiously entered Billy’s house, and he’s lying on the floor under a workbench just inches from Billy’s bare feet. Tonight, he will take the boy without fail.
This is a harrowing and horrifying fictional account of a stranger abduction and its impact on the young man and his family. I loved the book for the writing style and the scenes portrayed—scenes that make you feel both hopeless for Billy and eager beyond reason to learn how his story ends.
Tension builds as Barton and Billy wend their way from the small Iowa town where Barton abducted Billy to southern California and a dark and horrible room where Barton did his torturing and where he has hidden unspeakable secrets.
This is a compelling, memorable book that will leave you scrambling for something squeaky clean and happy for your next read.
Billy is 12 that summer. He can go from 0 to super-sonic just by thinking about fellow classmate Amanda. But he’s a computer geek—almost surely not the kind of guy someone like her would want. In short, he’s a normal nerd. Lots of us can relate to being 12, nerdy, and dreaming afar off about the girl who could change the world if she weren’t so busy rejecting yours.
Billy first sees the fat, smelly guy in the mall playing arcade games. He doesn’t think much of it, but he’s a bit creeped out by the guy. Billy, on the other hand, entirely captivates Barton. For Barton, Billy is the perfect child. He’s that one in a trillion boy who could help Barton have a complete and perfect family. And Royal Barton’s sure the boy would love Barton’s place in southern California with its soundproof room perfect for keeping young boys like him captive while he works his will on them.
It's a warm summer night, and Billy can’t sleep. He has been trying for days to capture and digitize the sound of the bird singing at night in his yard. He’s using his state-of-the-art Amiga computer to digitize the sound and show him the wave forms. His goal? To replicate the sound with his own whistles so the bird will respond specifically to Billy. He reasons if he can get his own whistles to look like those the bird makes, he’ll get a response from the bird.
Royal Barton has surreptitiously entered Billy’s house, and he’s lying on the floor under a workbench just inches from Billy’s bare feet. Tonight, he will take the boy without fail.
This is a harrowing and horrifying fictional account of a stranger abduction and its impact on the young man and his family. I loved the book for the writing style and the scenes portrayed—scenes that make you feel both hopeless for Billy and eager beyond reason to learn how his story ends.
Tension builds as Barton and Billy wend their way from the small Iowa town where Barton abducted Billy to southern California and a dark and horrible room where Barton did his torturing and where he has hidden unspeakable secrets.
This is a compelling, memorable book that will leave you scrambling for something squeaky clean and happy for your next read.
theboldbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
This book was good, but not great. It started out interesting, then the middle was a bit boring, and then it got interesting again towards the end. The parts about the parents and sister could have been shorter or fewer. Their perspective wasn't all that interesting. I would have rather read more about what was going on in Barton's head and what Billy was going through. Some of it was a bit implausible, but most fiction is so I can look past that. This is a quick read if you want to read it on the weekend.
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