Book Review – Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk

Method 15/33
Good. Really good! I was more into the first half than the second half, but it rounds out well (In a good or bad way? My lips are sealed). 😉

Creepy and a bit terrifying but what kept me calm was the victim. No matter her uncertain, extremely dire situation and the lack of control she had on her current situation, she was plotting. She was thinking. She was getting ready to turn the tables.

Tricking someone into thinking he has power is the ultimate power play.

And I was right there with her!!!

Kooloo: Just finished Method 15/33 – yes the one Maryse listed above. I know my review will take me awhile to write I am still processing but supremely satisfied. There were so many elements (the writing, the wisdom/stupidity, the science/horror, the emotion/less, the truth/lies) to this story I found perfect Hands down this is my favourite book of the year!!!!

Maria: This looks so good!!!!!!

Jennifer: Method 15/33 sounds awesome!…..click!

Geybie: Oh you make me super curious about Method 15/33. Sounds delicious!

The perfect psych-thriller ’cause the heroine (victim) had her own set of sociopathic issues and not only was she dead-set on getting out of this alive, but she was relishing in potential revenge. And boy does it explore some potential. 😉

So what’s it about?

Highly intelligent, yet emotionally and socially… “different“…

“She is not a sociopath. She understands and can choose to feel emotion. But she might choose not to, too.”

…Lisa is raised in a “well-to-do” supportive, and fairly loving family. Fairly? Well you know it goes. All is well, but everyone in a family has their issues. As does she.

…in grade school, a counselor insisted I be examined due to the administration’s concern over my flat reactions and apparent failure to experience fear…

Things get even more complicated when she becomes pregnant as a teen, but even that doesn’t deter her future, or her expectations.

That is, until she’s kidnapped, snatched right off the road and driven to a remote location and held prisoner. Fed, watered, and allowed limited bathroom privileges, Lisa finds herself wasting away in a small, stuffy room, trying to protect the baby she knows they are planning on taking from her.

But when you place a near genius in a room with nothing to do, day in and day out… she does what she’s best at. She observes. She studies. She thinks. She practices. She plans…

I had decided from Hour 2 of Day 1 that I’d try to feign a schoolgirl politeness, be thankful, for I soon discovered I could outwit my captor, a man in his forties. Must be forty-something, he looks the same age as my dad. I knew I had the wits to beat this horrible, disgusting thing, and I was just Sweet Sixteen.

And this is the story of somewhat creepy and calculating, yet totally awesome and resourceful Lisa that intends on turning the table on the bad guys.

I calculated, everything. Be it physics, chemistry, medicine, microbiology, I loved all pursuits requiring order and comparison, calculations, and provable theories. I was coddled in this hobby of science and indulged by busy parents with a surplus of money. MIT was a foregone conclusion. My baby and I are very valuable, I thought as the abduction occurred. To my great dismay, however, I soon learned a hard lesson: we were not wanted for brains or ransom.

But not everything is that easy. Not even when you think you have the upper hand. 😉

Perhaps the mind holds us back from connecting the dots so we do not take conscious steps toward difficult changes until we are ready.

Good story, good execution, although the first half was much more addictive and exciting than the second. Told mostly from Lisa’s POV (and also told from the detective’s POV which y’all know I’m not as much into the whole “detective” thing), this one has a fully fleshed out experience. That said, it was less detailed, less tangible and more rushed once the last 3rd of the book hits.

I dunno. Had the book been entirely from her POV, even with everything that happened, I would have preferred it. ALL of it was necessary, but being in her head was the most creepy-scary-excitng aspect of the story. SHE is what held my attention. I was thrilled and yet wary.

But overall, I loved the insight. That personal introspection, and subtle yet obvious human psyche observations that had me in awe the whole way through. I felt… enlightened. This character had me reflecting… realizing. I love stories and characters that make you think, and this one did just that.

4 stars!