Book Review: Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk

There comes a time in a reader’s life, when they unexpectedly come across a book and it feels like the author wrote that book just for them, like the author knew their interests, likes and dislikes and crafted the perfect story with them in mind… Method 15/33 is that book to me.

Book Description:

Imagine a helpless, pregnant 16-year-old who’s just been yanked from the serenity of her home and shoved into a dirty van. Kidnapped Alone Terrified.

Now forget her

Picture instead a pregnant, 16-year-old, manipulative prodigy. She is shoved into a dirty van and, from the first moment of her kidnapping, feels a calm desire for two things: to save her unborn son and to exact merciless revenge.

She is methodical calculating scientific in her plotting. A clinical sociopath? Leaving nothing to chance, secure in her timing and practice, she waits for the perfect moment to strike. Method 15/33 is what happens when the victim is just as cold as the captors.

The agents trying to find a kidnapped girl have their own frustrations and desires wrapped into this chilling drama. In the twists of intersecting stories, one is left to ponder. Who is the victim? Who is the aggressor?

My Thoughts:

Wow, just wow… that was my initial thought, my next thought was, is it an acceptable reviewing style to just write ‘amazing’ over and over again!?

At 245 pages, it’s difficult to talk about the storyline itself without spoilers… This story is told from the point of view of both Lisa Yyland, the pregnant, 16-year-old prodigy, and Special Agent Roger Lui, the detective assigned to her case.

While Lisa is in captivity, she begins collecting ‘assets’ that can aid her as she meticulously plots her escape. What makes Lisa special, is her ability to turn her emotions on and off, just like a light switch; she is a prodigy and knows exactly what she needs to do. She is focused and determined; without a doubt, one of my favourite fictional characters of all time! Her ability to turn anything into an asset to use to her advantage, eg. Asset #8 – the keyhole. Her precision planning blew me away:

“He slept 4.3 hours the first night. I slept 2.1.”

“Upon landing on the third floor, we turned 45 degrees left, walked 3 steps, and stopped again.”

While some people may feel Lisa’s mind is too scientific, devoid of emotion, I didn’t feel that way at all, she did indeed feel guilt, anger, love and this allows us as the reader to really connect with her. Now you may have read the above quotes and thought ‘that doesn’t sound exciting’ but let me ask you….if you were kidnapped, could you do that? I know I couldn’t, Kirk has created a protagonist we should be in awe of.

In fact, Lisa reminds me of one of my favourite TV characters of all time – Nikita. For those that have never seen the action/crime TV series – Nikita is a rogue assassin, who is attempting to take down the secret government organisation that recruited and trained her to be a spy.  It’s the idea of being able to take your thinking to the next level, whether it be a learned skill, or in Lisa’s case, genetic (and enhanced through learning), that I find so intriguing.

I have not read an abduction story like this one before, the writing style Kirk chose for this story was genius. This is a fast paced-read, a great crime thriller. I want to write so much more about the setting, the use of description, the characters, but that would spoil the story. What I will say is, everything fit together perfectly, the concept and execution was just brilliant.

Of all the books, I have read in 2016 so far, there has not been one that I have loved as much as this one. I would recommend this book to every and anyone. Shannon Kirk – Thank you!

*Thank you to the author and publisher for granting me access to a digital copy of this book via Netgalley*

This book is available to buy now from: Amazon UK