Customer Reviews

Outcast

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

 

 

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!

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!

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.

I have to be honest, I didn't get anywhere close to finishing this book. Why?

First off, I don't like reading about the "hero" in the beginning chapters sleeping around with whomever he can find just to find some "comfort". And then we're supposed to like him later on????

Secondly, once I realized where the storyline was headed with the hero's sister, I instantly closed the book and quit reading. I've noticed from Ms. Johnston's previous books if you're a secondary character absolutely nothing is going to go right for you in this book. If you're a secondary character beware because your life is going to be totally upended and you'll have a very unhappy ending.

Since I didn't read this book in its entirety, I cannot comment on the book as a whole. But from what little I did read I knew I would just be wasting my time.

Knowing this is the start of a new series for her there's no way I'm going to be reading any of her subsequent titles in this series.

I find her books to be just too realistic or "real life". I like to read for escapism and yes, the happy ending - for all characters involved!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked the short chapters. It was a real page turner. And, I like that it wasn't over romanticized. This was totally believable.

I started reading her books many years ago. And while there was always some "sad" and "hard" times, I liked the characters. However, this book.... well it's the first in a new series and I'm concerned about where this writer's head is. I'm on chapter like 28 out of 78? That's about 30% of the way thru the book. Anna and Ben have "fizzle" between them, but not much interaction so far - we are spending a lot of time learning the complicated family dynamics. And the kicker???? There's been 7 murders and one rape so far and I can only imagine the grief to come.

I read trashy romance novels to escape from "the real world." Joan use to bring in some awful things in her story lines, but now it's like there's no romance. A lot of screwing... but little romance.

I'll finish the book, because I have to (I always read to the end regardless of how much I dislike what I'm reading). But I think this is the last time I buy a Joan Johnston book. I wouldn't want to be a character in one of her stories. I wouldn't want to know any of these people. And I feel like I have to deal with the real world to escape her fictional one.

Most all of her books are great ,I did buy one or two that were not so good but I still read them through.

I know when I buy one of Joan Johnston's books that I'm going to enjoy it.

I was really set not to like this book much given the other reviews. I was pleasantly surprised. I liked it very much. I liked the large cast of characters, and can't wait for the next book. Given that there is such a wait for the next installment in the series, I do wish there would have been fewer unanswered questions at the end of the book. However, I have no doubt I will be reading the second book when it finally comes out.

Ben Benedict works for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of Homeland Security after a stint as an army sniper. He currently works with the Washington DC Police Department's gang unit while seeking an al Qaeda operative allegedly planning a biochemical attack. Still suffering from nightmares from his overseas duty, Ben is mortified when he must shoot a teen.

Ben is assigned to receive counseling from therapist, Dr. Anna Schuster, but remains on the job seeking the terrorist. He wants nothing to do with the shrink and refuses to cooperate insisting he is not crazy. She refuses to quit though she is concerned about breeching doctor-patient ethics when she finds she is attracted to him. As they fall in love and make love, they team up to prevent a killer from harming potentially millions.

Ben makes this exciting homeland security romantic suspense seem relevant as he personally struggles with demons he brought back from the war compounded by his shooting the teen is real (in light of the army and marines besieged by suicides to the military's credit are trying to help the soldiers). Thus he is at his first encounter with Anna nasty as he rejects the concept of needing outside help. The hunt for the terrorist is entertaining though the use of key flukes of luck detracts from a deep character driven thriller.

Harriet Klausner