Saturday, March 27, 2010

Exposure - Brandilyn Collins - Jan 2010

Okay, so for Christmas this year I got a Kindle from James' parents.  Best. Gift. Ever.  Anyway, so Amazon has a whole list free books that you can download.  When I found this out, I honestly went download crazy.  I was downloading everything that was free, in hopes of finding some awesome authors I've never heard of.  I would go back day after day and keep downloading whatever was free that day. This all sounds great, however, most of the free books are published by Christian publishing houses.  I had no idea about this -- and didn't even catch the hint from the summary of this book.  The summary actually caught my attention, and I thought, HMM, maybe this is a new author that could be great!


Well, I wasn't wrong.  Brandilyn Collins can write a book, there are just a TON of references to God, and lots of praying.  However, if you can look past all of that, the book was actually pretty good.


The main character, Kaycee, has always had a fear that someone was watching her, and it seems like her fear is becoming a reality.  A year ago, her best friend died, and she has become more paranoid than ever.  Kaycee keeps seeing a picture of a dead man, everywhere.  She finds it on her digital camera, her computer and even her TV.  She knows that the police already think that she is a little nuts, but she knows that she has no choice but to report these incidents.  She believes that someone is breaking into her house, and putting these pictures everywhere.  Each time, the picture shows a little more detail, and it always says "we are watching you".  Kaycee's best friend's daughter, Hannah, is having a hard time dealing with her mothers death, especially since her father has already remarried. Hannah decides that she is going to run away to Kaycee's house and stay with her, but on the way...she disappears.


There are actually two stories unfolding, which had me confused for a while.  And when I thought I had figured it out -- I was wrong again!  While reading about Kaycee's struggles, and Hannah's disappearance, we also learn of a family that is quite disfunctional.  The father, Martin, partakes in a bank robbery (of his own bank), and winds up getting himself killed.  His motive was to get money to help his sick daughter, however everything turns out horribly.  Once the father has been killed, the mother flees with the young girl, and they are never heard from again.  


Back to Kaycee and Hannah's story -- Hannah is still missing, and now Kaycee thinks that whoever is watching her, and leaving all these pictures is responsible for Hannah's disappearance. 


Through many twists and turns, the ending is a shocker.  We find out that the young girl that was sick, is actually Kaycee, and the man that killed her father, was now after her (for the money).  We find out that Kaycee's mother hid the money, and only took a little bit so that she could start fresh.  Kaycee and her mother got new identities, and started fresh, and Kaycee doesn't really remember much about it.  The man from the mob wants Kaycee to tell her where the money is, but Kaycee doesn't know, and he doesn't believe her. 


Aside from all the religious mambo-jumbo, I really enjoyed this book.  Although Brandilyn Collins is a Christian writer, I might try some of her other novels too.


3 out of 5 stars.


Happy Reading!
Brandi

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