This is a must read for fans of Dexter! Although quite different it has the similar moral argument of whether others are right or wrong for taking care of "scum" as many would say. Oak did well with intertwining the characters lives and writing with in depth details. I thought it was well written for being his first book. Looking forward to more written by him! ( )

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 ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

'Charlie and Sarah, two disaffected teens dealing with depression, meet in an online chatroom and soon hatch a plan to bring meaning to their lives by encouraging other despondent individuals to help eradicate the "scum of society", such as pedophiles and rapists who have escaped justice. Anyone determined to commit suicide is urged to first kill someone who "got away with it" before taking their own life. Why not, they ask, "take one with you?"'

The premise of this book is absolutely fantastic, although it's not a new idea by any means. It's been touched upon in other books (the thought of taking someone's life while taking your own, usually someone the suicide victim feels deserves it), but as of yet I haven't read any one book dedicated to this idea, so I found it really interesting and quite unique.

The way this book was written was a little unusual at first. There were lots of different chapters and each chapter was dedicated to a particular person or couple that each slotted into the plot. It's almost like each chapter and character was a puzzle piece and they each fit together in a specific way, but the chapters jumped around the timeline a little and kept going back and forth. I found it really tricky to get into this style of writing, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I loved seeing which character or set of characters would fit in where and what they'd do. I thought it was awesome, if a little unusual at first.

I think the major focus in this novel is the character development. You grow to love each and every one of the characters and really do start feeling for them, even though this is a very short book and it wouldn't normally happen that quickly. Anderson has a natural talent for creating realistic and likeable characters (yes, even the evil ones) and I believe that is a very strong talent to have. I really enjoyed learning about each of the characters in detail, despite their lives being sad and wrought with awful happenings, I loved reading each character's chapters.

Overall I really did enjoy this book. There isn't much to it, and yet it is a thoroughly good read. I'm interested to see the rest of Anderson's work as it progresses. ( )