Thursday, March 12, 2009

Book Review: Witch Hunts on the Internet

WitchHuntsOnTheInternet-YvonneWalus

 

Witch Hunts on the Internet
Yvonne Eve Walus

Echelon Press
Fictionwise.com

Author Website:
http://yewalus.kiwiwebhost.net.nz

 

I found this book when Yvonne asked me for a blog interview a couple of months ago. Last night, I finally read it.

Witch Hunts is an eerily realistic novella that made me think I was reading an actual journal entry of a scary moment in a mother's life. When she discovers her 13 year old daughter engaged in online chats with a man claiming to be 16, she does research. With her police background, she does very thorough research, to find her suspicions were right and the 16 year old is actually 40.

The novel follows her path to find the truth, complete with the emotional tensions of the mother. This is a fast read, at only 30 pages, but it stays with you, showing the reality of internet dangers for young people. It's very well written, gripping, and beginning and ending in a perfect manner for what the author was trying to accomplish. If I had a star rating, I would give this 9 out of 10.

The only thing I would critique is the title, since Witch Hunts were unreasonable and untrue scare tactics and the dangers of online predators are very real.

Read it, and then have your teenagers read it.

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