Oak Anderson

Take One With You by Oak Anderson

Charlie and Sarah are two teens who are both suffering depression for their own reasons. They meet in an on-line chat room. They decide they want to rid the world of criminals, rapists and pedophiles etc. So they come up with a plan for the "suicidal teens". If they are going to take their own lives then they should "take one with you" (meaning kill a bad person). Basically it would be a homicide/suicide. Soon it goes viral and things get out of control.

A very original story, I was on the edge of my seat. Take One With You touches a problematic subject in society today, teen suicide. The sad and frightening thing is, I find that something like this could happen in real life. Charlie and Sarah have to face the reality of what they created. That would be very hard, especially for young people. A fantastic psychological read. I really liked this story and recommend to Adult readers and (Mature) Y/A as well… (mais)

Amazon-Prime-Lending. Slow going, as I was reading the BOTM of Psychological Thrillers mostly.

One of the films I really like is Suicide Circle (aka Suicide Club), a real-movie-filmed-manga, so I wanted to see a different take on the subject. The basic idea of both is based on reality, in Japan people find partners in chat-rooms and commit suicide together (at least they did a few years ago, not sure wether it is still happening).

This book has a lot of pieces thrown together like a jigsaw-puzzle, not a single story-line.The different pieces read like short-stories of depressing lives. And sometimes too much information, which does nothing for the main-story-line.
In between newspaper-articles, chat-logs and the like. Not bad, but also not very suspense-full or gripping.
Will read a different book in-between ( [b:The Stranger You Know|18404155|The Stranger You Know (Maeve Kerrigan #4)|Jane Casey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396817866s/18404155.jpg|22098234] ).
(edit: changed a few sentences around)
Had a hart time finishing this one, glad I have not bought it. The story was ok-ish, but not overwhelming and too many pieces. Reads a bit like a John Brunner-SF-Novel, [b:Stand on Zanzibar|41069|Stand on Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360613921s/41069.jpg|2184253] or [b:The Shockwave Rider|41070|The Shockwave Rider|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386921650s/41070.jpg|868164] or a movie by Paul Verhoeven (Robocop), transcripts from hearings, Websites, News, in between.
But compared to Brunner, here is not enough story and the people, while it is tried to describe them deep, are not really deep or feel real. The main hero, Charlie, it simply not audacious enough.

Mainly finished it as I got over the 30% self-set-border for abandoning/DNF a book, and wanted to lend something new in September.
Solid 3 star, I am glad, I did not pay for it. Still recommended for a good idea and for feeling current, it plays in the now and here, and these facts are on the point and real. Although these are only mentioned in passing, not explained (may puzzle a non-tech layperson) in the story like Websites, The Pirate Bay, Torrents and how to set up a Website so it can not be taken down easily.… (mais)

This book revolves around an intriguing premise having to do with suicide and vigilante justice. The pace is quick, with lots of subtleties that later mean more than we might have initially thought, so readers need to pay close attention to every word along the way.

The characters and actions feel slightly disconnected at first. The further we get into the story, the more these various parts connect and entwine. Eventually they all intersect in unexpected ways.

For me, the drawback came with characterization. We have a wide array of characters, most with point of view parts. Because this story is largely plot-centered, and because that plot is intricate and wide-reaching, we aren't able to spend much time with any particular character. None stand out as true main characters, and I felt a slight lack of connection because of that.

This story raises some thought-provoking issues about justice and how easily that invisible line in the sand can be drawn, crossed, and redrawn elsewhere.… (mais)