Customer Reviews

Stalker

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

 

 

This is the story of a college girl named Lily who volunteers for the midnight shift at a low budget public radio station that has few listeners. Her voice attracts interest from someone who is actually listening and becomes obsessed, but is disappointed the real thing doesn't match what had been imagined by the voice. This stalker decides to have some fun and teach Lily a lesson for being so misleading and ungrateful for the celebrity status the stalker has generously given her by the stalking actions.

I thought this book was pretty average. No literary events occur within that are memorable. Look elsewhere for a quality stalking novel.

I like 'Stalker' because I learnt a lot about how a radio station works. I also liked the idea of having the stalker's view as well as having what Lily did in the story.

I kept reading to the end in one go because it had lots of suspense.

...

Prolific author Hazel Edwards immediately catches the interest of the reader in her latest offering 'Stalker' with her easy readable style and her choice of subject. Lily is just a normal teenager with a job at the local radio station until a fan turns fanatical. After having her car, house and entire life invaded, Lily becomes filled with fear. Edwards draws us in with her appealing style and cleverly manipulates us through the confusing chronology of events, into wanting to read on. Through a number of skilful passages, the stalker speaks to us and this allows the reader to build up a mental image of the person who is terrifying Lily. It is at the climax that Edwards brilliantly shatters our image, taking this enjoyable book to another level, as it challenges us to reassess obsession and stereotypes.

Most of us know, or know of someone who has been the target of stalker like behaviour - repeated unwanted gifts or letters from an overzealous suitor, threatening phone calls and visits from a vindictive ex-lover. We've all read or heard about cases in the media of a celebrity being followed by an obsessed fan. Some of you may even know people who have stalked. It appears that stalking is quite a common problem. The Internet for instance provides numerous sites to assist people to combat the issue and to better understand the problem, and research into the behaviour and minds of stalkers is increasing.

Lily is an eighteen-year-old radio presenter recently given the 'grave-yard' shift at a community radio station. She is proud of her job and usually shares the booth with the panel operator and friend Jamie. It is however through this exposure that Lily becomes a target. A fan, after hearing Lily on air begins offering attention; letters left in her pigeonhole, e-mails, phone-calls directed to the station and a questionnaire from which a generous selection of details are obtained about Lily's personal life.

The assault on Lily's privacy becomes a coordinated and organised invasion of Lily's personal space. The fan become stalker enters the home Lily shares with her new flat mate Genevieve. Lily and Genevieve aren't exactly the best of friends and Lily doesn't realise the extent of the stalker's intrusions until they are virtually a common event. The missing toothbrush, the changed front door lock could easily have been Genevieve's fault.

All through this story Edwards exposes the reader to the deviousness of the stalker's nature by allowing us to hear the internal voice addressing Lily. As a result we find out the stalker's reason for stalking, feelings about Lily and true intent, and it is disturbing. This is the opportunity the book presents, to gain an insight into both a stalker and a target's situations and to be able to learn from their experiences.
Lily enjoys the fact that she presents a person on the airwaves who is much more confident and conventionally attractive than she is in reality. The stalker feels betrayed by this discovery. Lily's method of dealing with the unwanted attention amplifies the anger and frustration felt by the stalker. Lily has no regard for being a 'victim', a target she may be, but Lily fully intends to rid her life of the uninvited manipulations of the stalker. When neither of them is prepared to accept the situation any more Lily takes on the stalker in a way that is both surprising and entirely satisfying.

In Australia, the laws governing stalking are included in the State Acts, with each state having different definitions and laws governing the behaviour. It seems that stalking is commonly recognised as being non-violent in nature, it is usually an invasion of the personal space of the target in one form or other. The range of behaviours is varied, from following the target to verbal or written threats, repeated phone calls or emails, even bothering people associated with the target, and the stalker can exhibit any number of these or very few and still be stalking. If the behaviour escalates into a more violent kind then the law defines these as separate crimes with separate charges.

'Stalker', is the fifth novel for this age group by Hazel Edwards and is published by Lothian. It is a detailed and thrilling journey into the mind of a stalker and the disturbing impact one can have on their target. She successfully keeps the reader wondering about the identity of the stalker right until the end, and successfully challenges the readers' stereotyped beliefs. It is an insightful and informed story that allows the reader to realise that being a victim and a target are different and that the responsibility of how to cope with and respond to the attention is matter of personal choice. When you chose to read this novel, make sure you don't read it at night alone in your house, or you might never get to sleep...

Being stalked, how would you react? Would you feel flattered or scared? Think its exciting or dangerous? Either way the stalker is stalking you for a reason, or are they...?

Isnt everyone thinking i'm going to live my life the way I want to, I control what I do? Well thats what lily Noelle, an 18 year old uni student was thinking. Lily has decided to join the radio station 3bc as an extra curricular activity for uni. Things are looking good, she has made more friends, got something to do with her time now until things start to go sour. One of lilies fans has slowly become more and more obsessed with her everyday. Lily finds her life has already been planned out for her, when her car breaks down, when things go missing and even messing up the relationship she has with her flat-mate Genny. Lily can not control what is happening as she doesnt know who her stalker is.

As first lily just lets it pass by, thinks its just normal since she has become more famous around her town but its not slowing down, it just keeps getting worse. The things that happen to her become more serious.

Throughout the whole book you are looking for clues as to who the stalker could be turns out it is no-one that is mentioned in the book until the end when lily does a show about stalkers hoping the stalker would ring up the show. With luck the stalker does ring up the show and all becomes clearer.

Oneday the stalker realises that he or she was stalking a voice all along and wasnt interested in what lily looked like until they see lily for the first time and become very disappointed.
Lily confronts her stalker finally in court after the identity has been revealed.
It is a bit disappointing that it is a book about stalkers, youd think there would be a lot more interesting stalking involved but theres not.

The set out of this book was interesting I thought. First you read about what happens to lily and you see her side of the story and then at the end of each chapter the stalkers side and how he or she has been getting away with what they are doing everyday. This set out is good because you know what is going through both of the characters minds.

I would recommend this book to teenagers aged 15-20.