Review
Bloor returns to his home state of Florida, the
dreamlike setting and inspiration of his YA bestseller,
Tangerine, in
Taken, a
gritty and suspenseful meditation on the future of the American family.
Taken unfolds in the violent year 2035, when those fortunate
enough to have achieved the American dream live video-surveiled lives in mega-mansions
within fortified communities with ironic and grandiose names. The novel's
thirteen year old heroine and narrator, Charity Meyers, lives with her wealthy
divorced step-mother and father in a high-security community called "The
Highlands" (Bloor fans will recall that in
Tangerine, protagonist Paul Fisher's
family lived in the genteel Lake Windsor Downs housing development.) Young
residents of The Highlands never leave, not even to attend school or to
celebrate holidays. That's because it's...
Beyond the Book
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
posts the following U.S. Department of Justice statistics on taken
children:
- 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year
period of time (approximately 2,185/day), but the majority of these were quickly found.
- 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
- 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.
- 115 children were the victims of "stereotypical" kidnapping -
crimes involving someone the child does not know or someone of slight
acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles
or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child...
