Abducted

I just finished reading the book Abducted by T.R. Ragan per recommendation of my best friend. The novel was about a girl who had been abducted and then escaped from a serial killer when she was a teenager. The story continues as she is now an adult, private investigator working with an FBI agent who was her boyfriend at the time of her kidnapping. They are searching to find and capture the serial killer known as Spiderman who has returned, blaming his acts on the main character. I typically enjoy most all books that I read, but this book was different from the start. After a year of AP Lang and learning a great deal about writing, I couldn't help but notice this author's writing style. Every single sentence was in the subject-verb format. Not only was the writing style not up to quality standards, the main character had several annoying qualities. I found myself constantly frustrated with some of her actions, mainly revolving around her ex-boyfriend that she predictably falls straight back in love with. Not finishing a book is something I don't like to do, so I finished the story and overall enjoyed the plot. I love watching TV crime shows, and following the plot of a serial killer was no different. However, when I finished the book, there was a list of the author's other works. She primarily writes romantic comedies, romantic suspense, medieval time travel, and thriller. I accept that an author is able to write more than one genre, however this book seemed out of her typical writing style.

As this book's premise was of a serial killer, it had me think about motives, and what can cause someone to be willing to go to these lengths to brutally murder multiple people. In the novel, this Spiderman targeted young girls that he perceived as "bad" girls that detracted from society. He thought of himself as a seeker of justice, that he was helping his community by getting rid of these girls. His methods remained the same, to torture these teens based off of their fears and then to set his collection of spiders on them, forcing them to be bitten multiple times. As the investigators found, Spiderman was set off by his sister's friends who trapped him in the basement, burned him with cigarettes, and left him for days where he was bitten by a black widow. Although this was a work of fiction, it causes me to question the humanity and sanity of people. I don't understand how someone is able to torture other people, for revenge or not, and believe that what they are doing is ok. I was raised to be kind, friendly, and nice, and I know that not everyone has that opportunity, but how can they live with themselves knowing the horrible things they inflicted on another human being? This also makes me realize how sheltered of a life that I live and how lucky I am not to know first-hand the horrors that this world can possess.

As I mentioned before, taking this AP Lang class caused me to notice more about the author's writing than I would have previously. I probably would have thoroughly enjoyed the book. Even though it is nice to enjoy things, I prefer to enjoy something of great quality and realize it, and be able to acknowledge bad writing and what makes it bad. In all, I am glad to have taken this class, and realize how much I have learned and that it not only will help me in taking the end of year test, but has taught me valuable information that I will carry with me forever.