The Plantation (edition 2002)

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is filled with action but also with many thought provoking concepts, most notably, slavery of whites by blacks as a revenge for their past history.

How would you react if you were expecting your handsome boyfriend at the door and instead when you answer you are drugged and kidnapped and when you awake you know not where, you are a slave to a sadistic black man who says that a remote branch of your family enslaved his before the Civil War and now it's payback time?

Does anyone know where you are? Ariane, the kidnapped damsel, is fortunate because her boyfriend before leaving the US service, was a member of an elite taskforce which could handle just about anything. Jonathan and his buddy DJ track down the kidnappers on THE PLANTATION and work to rescue Ariane and 21 others in the same situation.

This is the first installment of the Payne & Jones series. I received book 3 as an ER and knew after reading that one that I wanted to read the beginning books in the series. The book was exciting and kept your attention but at times was a bit graphic in the violence of the situation. Definitely not bedtime material, but definitely a great read. ( )

Some of the details in this novel were so shocking that I had to put down my book and think about what I had just read. The story reverses the idea of slavery with caucasian families of previous slave owners being captured, trained and sold by the decendents of the slaves of said families. Kuzneski take the reader places that society shys to acknowlage, but the hero and his conquest make the ending that much more enjoyable. You root for the good guys from cover to cover. ( )

very creepy, but very good ( )

Just brilliant. ( )

This was one of the most action packed books I have ever read. It was like watching a movie most of the time. I enjoyed it. Immensely. I can sort of understand why some people might not like it. There are heavy racial overtones in this book and perhaps there are some that are not comfortable with that kind of subject matter. Then there are some reviews I have read that thought this book was filled with such cheesy action it was like a Hollywood movie. I admit, it does have a Hollywood feel to it. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it though. I also heard some just didn't like the playful banter and immature jokes that came from Jonathon and David. It didn't bother me. In fact, I enjoyed it and saw it as a form of comic relief. It's playful - however sometimes unnecessary but when things come to a head they do smarten up and stop with the immaturity.

Aside from the action and the fast pace, this story caught my attention and I actually dropped a couple of books just to finish reading this one. I knew the story had to be predictable. I already had an idea on what was happening and sort of what was going to happen although the ending rather threw me off track. Nevertheless I thought it was still an enjoyable read. The action really made up for it's pitfalls because it just felt like such a huge adrenaline rush and an engaging read.

I liked both main characters; David and Jonathon. They are your typical dynamic duo! and the way they work together is fun to read - not to mention they playful banter. Ariane on the other hand, is strong and suitable for Jonathon. Although you don't really read much about her, she's really in the background for most of the time - even though she's the object of their rescue. Which rather irked me. I wished she was more in the picture she seemed like such a strong character.

The predictibility of this novel is probably the major pitfall of the story, and the heavy racial overtones could turn some people off. However as I mentioned already, the action does make up for it and if racism doesn't bother you, by all means read this book. There is gore and some hard to read parts where it concerned torture. So it may not be for the squeamish. Overall a good novel if you just want solid action and a fast paced read. I enjoyed it and was willing to give it a try. ( )