Outcast [Hardcover]

Joan Johnston (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Mira Books; Book Club edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1615233032
• ISBN-13: 978-1615233038
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,621,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Johnston, the New York Times bestselling author of the Bitter Creek novels A STRANGER'S GAME, THE NEXT MRS. BLACKTHORNE, THE RIVALS, THE PRICE, THE LONER, THE TEXAN, THE COWBOY, and the historicals NO LONGER A STRANGER and COLTER'S WIFE, has written more than forty award-winning historical and contemporary romance novels. She received a master of arts degree in theater from the University of Illinois and graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law at Austin. Joan Johnston lives in Colorado and South Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Real Life Too Much?, November 2, 2009

By 

Toni V. Sweeney (Orange County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast (Mass Market Paperback)

Benjamin Benedict is a man on the edge. An ICE agent suffering from PTSD after accidentally killing a child in Afghanistan, he now experiences the guilt of seeing Waverly, his partner and best friend, killed the day of his wedding to Ben's sister, Julie--a wedding to which Ben promised Julie he would deliver Wave safe and sound.When Julie is shot a few days later while in Ben's company, that's enough to send him plunging into a pit of despair.

Dr. Anna Schuster is a psychological counselor, introduced to Ben three times, and with each meeting, she's struck by his physical presence and the force of the anger inside him. The first time is at a veterinarian's, when he brings in a dog struck by a hit-and-run driver, a dog who repays him by biting him on the arm; the second time is at an emergency room, where he goes to have the arm treated and ends up in Anna's apartment in a semi-sexual encounter culminating in a PTSD episode. The third time is as doctor and patient when she's called in to counsel him before allowing him to return to work after his friend's death. Refusing to release him but being told he's needed for an assignment, Anna compromises by asking to be allowed to ride along with Ben and his new partner. She also commits what's tantamount to professional suicide by allowing herself to fall in love with her patient, entering with open eyes into a love affair with Ben in hopes of breaking through the façade of non-caring, mindless sex he uses to shield himself from further hurt. The fact that he responds to her, and also begins to show that he cares, gives her hope that he isn't as far lost as everyone thinks.

Weaving in and out of encounters with Ben's complicated extended family relationships--his mother and father, still in love though married to other people, various stepsiblings, brothers and sisters, and even an illegitimate relation or two, most of whom are either in some branch of the armed services or active in the Washington political scene--both the lovers are soon involved in a search for a terrorist with a personal grudge against Ben. Success in their mission will save thousands of lives; failure means not only an entire city's inhabitants, but also Ben's family as well as himself and Anna will perish.

There were a lot of things in this story that I didn't like. Waverly getting shot was something I expected from the beginning though I hoped I would be wrong. That incident is almost a cliche. At one point, it just seemed as if the tragedies in Ben's life were almost exaggerated. Could one person really have so many things happen to him, from childhood on, without becoming a total catatonic? To my mind, the incident concerning the death of Ben's little brother at age four could have been deleted or minimized altogether. Nevertheless...

I liked this story. perhaps it's because a man who'll stop to help a hurt animal and then allow himself to be bullied into adopting that animal can't be too far gone. And then there's that family...surely a set of intriguing characters about whom one would want to know more. This is a taut, well-written thriller, the first in a series. If the author's intention is to write about the other family members in following books, and if they are as exciting and tense as this one, there will be many more books to come. Just leave out a few of the cliches. May they all be as enjoyable as Outcast!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst book I've ever read, September 30, 2009

By 

Marian Reader (Mesa, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast (Mass Market Paperback)

If you write a book where all the action takes place in a week, I guess it has to move fast, but the plot of this one was pretty unbelievable. Plus it's bad when a groom is killed on the eve of his wedding, but wait (spoiler alert ) till the bride is shot also! Almost closed the book at that point, but skimmed to the end just to see how bad it got, and it was bad. Glad it was a library copy and I didn't spend my money on it!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many characters, August 6, 2009

By 

Churn Dash "Churn Dash" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast (Mass Market Paperback)

Whilst the main plot was full of co-incidences, the secondary plot with the sister was way too distracting. Frankly, what I mainly remember about the book was the many unresolved or unanswered questions. I don't think I even care what the primary characters do in the future.