Customer Reviews

Evil Exchange

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a suspenseful, gripping novel that grabs you from the first page and keeps you on a wild ride from cover to cover. Filled with dark truths about the world of adoption, the authors weave a tale of intrigue, excitement and mystery that it is filled with twists and turns that keep the reader enthralled. The authors story involves the reader with such depth, allowing the reader to travel the journey along with the characters. The authors write in a "grishamesque" style and this book should be on the best seller list!!!

From first page to last page this book held my attention! Although the subject matter is abhorent, the authors handle it truthfully and don't sugar coat the evils of adoption loss. The characters are diverse and come to life from the opening paragraph to the last period at the end of the book. I cheered the "good guys" and very quickly felt hate for the "bad guys". The name of Boots Beaumont's boat "Lost & Found" is particularly clever and meaningiful in many ways.

There aren't many books that held my attention quite the way "Evil Exchange" did. I look forward to more "Boots Beaumont" mysteries and hope that Boots won't retire anytime soon.

I really enjoyed reading this book.
I took it on my holiday and it was great to read by the pool.
I could put it down and then come back and get engaged in the story lines.
It was interesting and held my curiosity until the very end.

Evil Exchange is a fast paced action/adventure novel that is chock-full of intriguing characters and dangerous, life-altering situations. Ruthless criminals--willing to do the unspeakable--come to life in a baby-stealing adoption ring with shocking and often deadly results. The novel is informed by the authors' vast wealth of knowledge which clearly gives Evil Exchange its exciting edge. Don't miss it.

What a totally enjoyable book! I was struck by how accurately the feelings and perceptions of adopted people are portrayed while keeping me glued to the unfolding story of Todd's search and the baby snatching ring. Joe Soll and Lori Paris have proven to be excellent mystery writers. I'd love to read more by them in this genre - it's a refreshing change to all the adoption books that are out there yet it definately educates the reader who is clueless about the money-making business of adoption. I couldn't put this one down til the end...

This book is called "fiction" and an "adventure mystery" - yet the authors have woven in some very unsettling truth, great-exciting-high wire adventure, and even with a happy ending the reader will be left wondering, "Could this really happen?" The answer is Yes, and bless the authors for putting it right out there and right where we need to see it - in the good old USofA. Black-market baby brokers don't just deal with third world countries... they'll hit wherever the market (vulnerable, underprivileged single women or couples) is.
The characters are well developed and the story flows smoothly. I found Evil Exchange a good and easy read.

Evil Exchange, by Lori Paris and Joe Soll, is a fast moving fictional account of some of the horrors that can take place in adoption. Lori and Joe, have managed to weave a tangled web that is filled with mystery, suspense, truth and laced it with humor. Those of us who have been affected by adoption, will find their fictional account of black market baby selling disturbing and sad. We will understand the feelings and thoughts of the main character, Todd Walters, as he makes a decision to search for his first mother. The emotions that are described are those that have been felt by all of us searching adoptees, who are honest with ourselves. The need to know who our mother is, the need to know the true story of what happened, and that fear of what we may find. Without being 'preachy', the reader also learns the need for support and preparation for those of us embarking on this journey.

The reader will learn how a Black Market baby selling rings works, the money involved is staggering, and the lengths the criminal mind will go to disturbing.

Even though 'Evil Exchange' can be a quick read, I found myself having to put it down because of the emotions it brought up for me. I recommend it as a refreshingly truthful, though fictionalized account of how twisted life is for those adopted.

Evil Exchange by Lori Paris and Joe Soll is a gripping, well written, provocative novel that grabs you from start to finish. This intriguing, suspenseful mystery takes the reader on one man's journey in search of self and his roots, aided by a private eye, that puts him directly on a collision course with an FBI investigation of a baby selling ring, and events that will change his life forever. This fictional work is cleverly crafted with fascinating characters and an interesting plot, yet it gives the reader a glimpse of the real life, burning, inner feelings of an adoptee's need to know where he began while educating the reader about the horrors of the crime of baby selling, which shockingly still occurs to this day. This book is fast paced, enjoyable, educational and a must read. You will not want to put it down!

Regarding Evil Exchange.

Todd's feelings of exhilaration and his acknowledging of the physical dangers involved as he worked the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers mimic the racing pounding heart and vertigo he deals with when he is suddenly catapaulted into dealing with the knowledge of his being sold as an infant through a black market adoption scheme. His investigation is bolstered by a woman determined and assertive enough to enlist the help of a famous PI whose voodoo-skilled live- aboard contributes metaphysical interventions.
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Ensnared from the first page, I found it difficult to stop reading I was intrigued by the story, and also by the skill of the story teller. . I could visualize the characters a so aptly described them and let them develop themselves by their actions and dialogue. As the story carried the characters to the northeast, the southeast, and the Carribean, language was real, and yes, God bless the authors, the book is a celebration of the word carefully selected for impact and understandable communication. Seamless, there was no way to know there is more than one author except for the banner and the attributes.

It is great fiction, and a mystery John MacD would have been proud to have been a remote contributor

I want EVERYONE to read it! So, I guess that means that IT"S A MUST-READ! I want them to ask for it, and BUY it! I want a recognized personality to plug it on all the talk shows. I love the term first mother; it denotes the appropriate heart bond without taking away from the mother who adopted and cherished her child. Beside it, biological mother is so redolent of laboratories.

The authors have created a great mystery, informative subtly, without any pedantic overbearing-ness Those who have their own (search)stories will love it. Those who never came close to knowing will learn, and wait for the authors' next mystery!.

Reviewer: David Kirschner, PhD.(NY),Author of ADOPTION:UNCHARTED WATERS. . . A Psychologist's Case Studies. . . Clinical & Forensic Issues. - See all my reviews.

EVIL EXCHANGE by Lori Paris & Joe Soll, a gripping,deliciously readable novel, combines for the reader, the escapism of a true crime/suspense narrative - with the virtue of having experienced a vigorous moral work-out. The theme is adoption, and the ripples of trauma that engulf families when an adoptee decides to search; and the main characters, painted with great care, navigate a common hidden darkness. . . that at the heart of every adoption reside issues of abandonmnet, loss, emptiness and guilt. Using the format of a lively, entertaining novel, with a large cast of characters; Paris & Soll explore the minefield of family life, depicting how emotional time-bombs can, and often do, explode beneath a well-ordered surface. EVIL EXCHANGE is a must read socially meaningful novel, that sheds light on a complex subject, from multiple perspectives. - David Kirschner, PhD., Psychoanalyst, author of ADOPTION: UNCHARTED WATERS. . . A Psychologist's Case Studies. . . Clinical & Forensic Issues.