I had a child who was bitten repeatedly at daycare. I also had a child who repeatedly bit another child at daycare. Being the mother of the bitten was much easier than being the mother of the biter.
It’s easier to be the victim. Everyone feels sorry for you. When you’re the predator, no one cares about you. They just want you to stop what you’re doing or go away.
Simon Connolly doesn’t know what to think about his son, Jake. He responds in a frenzied panic when he learns that shots were fired at the high school his son and daughter attend. When he arrives at the school, he finds out that his daughter is safe, but teens are dead and Jake is the only living suspect.
Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon tells the story of the Connolly family (through the eyes of Simon Connolly) as they try to locate Jake before the police do and struggle with their beliefs of his guilt or innocence.
I wasn’t aware until after I finished the novel and gave it a perfect rating that Finding Jake is Reardon’s first novel. I was taken immediately with the quality of writing in the book.
I also don’t think there’s a parent out there who couldn’t imagine the horror you would feel if your child was accused of such a terrible crime. While I didn’t so much relate to Simon Connolly’s character, I empathized with his situation and wondered how I would respond. How would you respond if your child was killed in a school shooting? Perhaps even worse, what if your child was the shooter?
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