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Method 15/33    by Shannon Kirk Amazon.com order for
Method 15/33
by Shannon Kirk
Order:  USA  Can
Oceanview, 2015 (2015)
Hardcover, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk has an extraordinary plot as well as an extraordinary character in Lisa Yyland, although we do not know her name until way into this crazy good book.

Told in her own words, Lisa's story could actually happen today and she relates it in every terrifying detail. Lisa is a sixteen year-old pregnant girl who is 'insanely brilliant, angry, vengeful, as well as a borderline sociopath'. She is snatched as she walks home from school, thrown into a van and driven for two days. On the third day she is deposited blindfolded into what she thinks might be a secluded farm house.

What the kidnapper doesn't know is that she is much, much smarter than him. She immediately, upon being locked in a room by herself, inventories items that might help her to escape – she has no intention of allowing this moron to take her baby from her. She welcomes the presence of a knitted red afghan, the handles of a bucket, and other innocuous things that might prove useful.

She meets other individuals she gives her own made-up names to. There's the Obvious Couple who want her baby. Brad is her kidnapper's twin brother. She hears Kitchen People who fix her meals. She has difficulty engaging with others. This doesn't bother her at all. She has nothing to say to anyone anyway.

Her thoughts, as she explains what she hopes to do, will bewilder you at the same time that you realize you're pulling for her. Make sure you have some extra time as you start this unusual and suspenseful novel. It is darn hard to put down. The only thing I wish is that I could meet this intelligent young woman but I am sure she wouldn't want to meet me. Good, good book. Don't miss it.

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