Edward Bloor

The year is 2035 and kidnapping children is prevalent in society. In fact, kidnapping is so frequent that all wealthy students are trained in kidnapping survival. (Think back to your years as a student and practicing for fire drills, bomb threats, lock downs, etc.)

Charity Meyers lives in Florida in a community with other wealthy families. Surveillance is tight and the neighborhood is guarded. She lives with her butler, Albert; maid, Victoria; step mom, Mickie; and father. Mickie is a show more whack-job and professional reality star gem. She films every aspect of her life, so obviously, Charity can't stand her. Her father is a self-absorbed drunk who'd rather be playing golf with his buddies. This sorta leaves Charity close with only Victoria and Albert.

But here's the clincher. Charity doesn't really know anything about Albert and Victoria because it's against the rules. You see, if you're "working class" there are very few options that you have to make something of yourself. You can fight in the military, or you can join RDS. RDS is the organization that supplies help to the wealthy families. If you work for RDS you give up your identity completely for the duration of employment. You are forbidden to talk about your personal life prior to joining the family, and you really aren't even suppose to form bonds with the family you're taking care of. RDS is so strict that they give you new names. Victoria and Albert are two of those fictional names.

It's Christmas time and Charity is kidnapped. Taken is her story in this not so distant future. For twenty-four hours we are with Charity and her kidnappers as Victoria and Albert attempt to locate the father and Mickie decides to film it.

Uh, can I just say that Taken is one of the most amazing books I've ever read. Immediately from the get-go we are in the back van with Charity and her kidnappers. She is running through her head everything that her schooling has taught her: how to act, how to react, when to look emotional, and when to remain calm. While we feel for the predicament that Charity is in, we also grow to understand (and dare I say empathize??) with the kidnappers. Society is separated rather drastically: you're either wealthy or poor. There's no in between. If you are wealthy you receive an education, you have medical care, you experience not just the bare necessities, but the luxuries of life. If you are poor, you have to find alternative ways to gain education, life is fragile and oftentimes medical attention comes too late. There are many reasons for the kidnappers to grow angry toward wealthy.

I love the themes that Bloor brings up in the novel. He also does an amazing job shifting between present to flashbacks as Charity passes the time in captivity. show less

Tangerine, Florida seems like a strange and dangerous place to live. Constant lightning strikes in the afternoons, continuous underground muck fires, and resulting sinkholes plague the community. That's not all. Prized koi fish are mysteriously disappearing from the community pond. Swarms of mosquitos are so thick, trucks with choking pesticides spray daily as if on war patrol. Multiple houses need fumigating because of termites. Then the robberies begin...and the vandalism and graffiti. show more
Paul Fisher and his family have recently moved to this unstable area and all middle-schooler Paul wants to do is make the soccer team. Despite having a disability (he is legally blind), he is an excellent goalie. He just needs a chance. Since all eyes (pun totally intended) are on Paul's older brother, Eric, the high school football star destined for greatness, that chance seems slim. Everyone adores Eric so why does Paul fear his brother so much?
Tangerine stuns the reader with harsh realities usually missing from young adult novels. Publishers Weekly said "it breaks the mold" and I agree one hundred percent. Confessional: some scenes were so harsh I found myself catching my breath. show less

Reviewed by Mark Frye, author and reviewer for TeensReadToo.com

TANGERINE is a surreal novel strong in pacing and character development. From the opening page to the very end, Edward Bloor takes the reader on a breakneck course through one family's conflict with the past and its devastating impact on the present. Paul Fisher's nightmare experiences in the shadow of his older brother come to a climax after the family moves from Houston to Tangerine, Florida, a fallen Eden of sorts. He narrates show more his experiences in the new community with intensity and passion regarding the problems they face. A tension remains until the very end.

Paul is an outsider from the very beginning. He is the younger brother of teen football legend, Erik Fisher. Their father dotes on Erik, living out his own frustrated athletic dreams in a sad, pathetic manner. Their mother endures their father, holding the family together with equal parts denial, busy-ness, and critical intensity. She is hyper-involved in all of the family's business, a contrast to her husband, who is focused solely on Erik's success on the field. Both deliberately turn a blind eye to Erik's moral failings, which include a propensity for violence and a complete lack of empathy for others. He is a textbook sociopath and the world merely a gaggle of potential victims.

Bloor guides the reader through the novel's 300-plus pages building upon each character with incident upon incident that reveals their true nature and failings. Paul and his parents are forced to face their own cowardice and complicity at several key junctures of the story, particularly during the break-ins and the events that led to the death of Luis Cruz. Facing their failings leaves them broken, but broken for potential rebirth as a better family unit.

The novel's message builds upon itself through the evolution of each character: burying a wrong under a bushel of denial takes a terrible toll.

Highly recommended. show less

Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.
But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?
Where did this boy show more come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?
The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.
This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help? show less