Reviews
Reviews of Vagilantes:
“A down-to-earth drama about the impact of child sexual abuse, woven into a creative murder mystery. Vagilantes raises the level of conversation to a rousing call for action. The more we talk about child sexual abuse, the more likely we can prevent it.”
Feather Berkower, MSW – Co-author, Off Limits: A Parent’s Guide to Keeping Kids Safe from Sexual Abuse
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“Vagilantes provides an intimate and scorchingly detailed picture of how one woman, Rayanne, struggles with the long term effects of child sexual abuse. Alcohol abuse, shame, impaired relationships, all play a role in destroying her life. When she is unexpectedly confronted with her perpetrator, she takes dramatic action to protect other young children from such abuse. She garners support from friends to confront and battle this problem in her home community as well as in society at large. You may feel alternately dismayed at her naivety, yet want to cheer her on.”
Paul A. Hansen, PhD – Author of “Survivors and Partners, Healing the Relationships of Sexual Abuse Survivors”
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Posted on Amazon.com 5-star review:
Don’t shy away from this book!
But, it is that very reticence of talking about it that let’s these predators continue to do what they do–victimize children. Vagilantes is a novel that makes talking about it more acceptable–one that says: this happens to people, and they are not alone.
Lest you get the idea that it’s all a serious downer, let me describe the set up. It follows the journey of one woman who discovers that the victimizer of her own childhood has moved in next door–and he’s still at it. Understandably, Rayanne’s long buried memories and fears surface–leading her to want to stop this man from hurting kids–once and for all. And yet, there are moments of humor–Rayanne is likable.
She begins to plot murder. But plots sometimes go awry, and an unexpected twist occurs. The events of Rayanne and her perpetrator becomes part of a larger story, when women in Boulder, Colorado band together to raise awareness, and prevent child sexual abuse. And like most such efforts it’s not without the complications caused by differing personalities. You know the ones. Get a bunch of women together and sparks fly–especially when they care so much about a cause.
Though these women never intended it … pedophiles begin to die.
This book begins with suspenseful action and doesn’t let up. Ms. Golden has created full, realistic characters with which readers will empathize. What happens to Rayanne is unexpected. Along the way, Golden drops little details of life in Boulder, that paint a vivid picture of what makes Boulder weird–but in a good way.
This book is a good read, and a page-turner–I finished it in one night–I had to. It was that good. A strong first novel, and I hope not the last from Julie Golden.
Disclosure: I received this book free as a gift.–I did read it–cover to cover in one sitting. And it’s a powerful story–well worth your reading it. I won’t forget it for a long time.
Sue Campbell, cover designer – March 20, 2012
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oh wow, yes, we can’t name is (it) Rayanne’s Rules, because then THEY WOULD HAVE TO REMEMBER HER EVERY SINGLE DAY! But she was just another story to them, and a not interesting enough one. I mean, the part that really pissed me off about the fucking book was that I had thought it might be good, that it might help, but I swear, it has only pissed me off.
Yes, I have been suicidal, no, no one helped me out, I got through it on my own to the other side, but let me tell you, if I had ever met people like that cunt Jena, and Rayanne’s other FAKE friends, I would have ended up dead. What PISSED ME OFF MORE THAN ANYTHING IS THINKING OF ALL THAT PRIVATE SPA SHIT AND ALL THE OTHER HAPPY HORSHIT THAT RAYANNE COULD HAVE BENEFITED FROM, WHY DIDN’T LINDA GET A VIBE THAT RAYANNE NEEDED THAT FUCKING SHIT MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE AND BRING HER???
yes, I’m angry, so angry I’m shaking. In the book, only the women who have a purpose get to live, but the one most hurt and in most need, you have not only kill herself in the book, but even go so far as to hint her spirit in the next life will be miserable too??? THAT’S BEYOND FUCKED UP IN MY BOOK.
I wanted to read this book and confront some things within myself, and I did manage to do that, but it also made me realize what a fucking snob it was who WROTE THIS SHIT. Kill the maid, what the hell, she was a liar, prolly never got raped, prolly never killed that guy, she’s just a drunk and a loser.
FUCK YOU. REALLY. JUST FUCK YOU.
one thing at least. Writing this was very therapeutic for me, so I do thank you for that. It also made me very sad, because here I was hoping that I might find somehow a group that really gave a shit instead of pretending to, that maybe I could see if I could somehow find people doing more than lip service. But I really don’t believe it of you, because otherwise you wouldn’t have been so quick to write off a freakin character. If you do that with fictional people that don’t suit your purposes, I don’t want to think about what you do with real people.”