Shout Out for Daniel Palmer's Next Book! Giveaway Too!

"It was my editor, John, who suggested
that I write about sexting. The idea
immediately intrigued me as I'm attracted
to stories that explore the hidden dangers
of commonly used technologies..."

Helpless 
This title will be released on January 31, 2012. Pre-Orders accepted Now!


By Daniel Palmer


Disturbing...
     Provocative...
          Compelling...
               Powerful...








In my opinion, almost nothing is worse than losing control of your own life! We feel...Helpless...don't we?

All of us have benefited from the technological advancements made; however, with those improvements comes the dangers to which all of us are now susceptible.  Lindsey Wells never thought she would do what she was about to do. Her love was the reason--that, and wanting to ensure she had a date for the prom! Besides it was just between her and Tanner, her boyfriend, and it wasn't as if they were going to really be intimate...Still, "Her racing heart knew she was crossing a line she'd never crossed before" ...As her boyfriend seduced her and asked her to send him a picture, Lindsey, one by one, took pictures of herself, each one revealing more and more...

When the FBI later contacted her about those very pictures, she, and the many other teenage girls first would deny that they had shared them with anybody... Now they knew that those same pictures could be all over the Internet. But, it only got worse... "Lindsey, known for her cheerfulness, enviable GPA, and deft tackling skills on the soccer field" was soon said to be involved with Tom Hawkins, her soccer coach at Shilo High School..

Tom Hawkins, fortunately, was a former seal and had been trained to deal with any situation--except for being falsely accused! Tom had both Lindsey and his own daughter on the soccer team he coached. For him, being able to be near Jill was wonderful since his ex-wife had done everything possible to discredit him in Jill's eyes.

Then his ex was found dead--murdered. And he was immediately the prime suspect, especially since the town cop had been an old school enemy and wasn't interested in looking any further. Tom, however, had seen a man behind their home, who had recently been released from jail. Tom realized that this man could have killed his wife--but he also knew that naming him might reveal a secret from Tom's past when he had still been in the military service.

"Of the forty girls in what Rainy dubbed James Mann's
Text Image Collection, ten of them (according to the school
superintendent) attended or had recently graduated from
Shilo High School. Each girl had taken an image of herself
in some stage of undress. And somehow, those images
ended up on James Mann's office computer."
Note: a Federal child pornographic case against Mann
 is what led to the FBI becoming involved at Shilo High.

Trying to heal and develop a better relationship with Jill since he was now her legal guardian had already been difficult. Jill had chosen to live with her best friend Lindsey and her mother rather than with him while the investigation was going on. Now, however, her father was being accused. all on the Internet, of having a relationship with one of the girls on the soccer team. When Lindsey was then named as that individual, all three were shocked and, within their discussions, even the FBI special agent involved began to question what was happening. Perhaps that was what led to the more intensive search to prove that Tom Hawkins was being accused, but set up--for murder, for sexual abuse and, finally, for possession and trafficking of child pornography!

Daniel Palmer has looked at the terrible, serious crimes that are constantly in today's headlines--the issue of child pornography, sexual abuse, etc., and turning the table, asks readers to consider what happens when the innocent are unfairly accused. Needless to say, most often results in the accused immediately being judged guilty. By providing Tom Hawkins, the main character who is accused, with his specific training and background, Palmer provided a tremendous thriller that is both edgy and exciting in his efforts to clear his name. I was thankful that  he also, though, did "not" provide him with exceptional computer skills, so that readers realized that he had no understanding of how any of what was happening was being done. More like the majority of us who know only enough to use our computer to better perform the routine daily activities that can now be speedily accomplished online.

Palmer indicated that he wanted to make the hidden dangers of today's technologies scary...scary enough to help teenagers realize that what they text or post online will: go on in perpetuity...when they are in college... when they are married...long after they have children of their own... This, he thought was very scary.

Palmer's novel, Helpless, has fully fulfilled his goal. This book is scary--very, very scary! It's scary because young children and adults do not see the "potential" danger. They see only the fun, the connectivity, and, sometimes, the tempting pleasure of private, intimate sexting...It's amazingly illustrative that murder occurred, that drugs had been involved...and those terrible crimes paled in comparison to what was happening to the lives of. all the innocent people... caught in the hidden dangers of those technologies we use every day of our lives!

I consider this more than a must-read. Parents, please provide a copy to your teenagers and allow them the opportunity to read and discuss the book. At a minimum, learn about those hidden dangers and work to create the environment within your home where those dangers are efficiently and effectively addressed!

You'll be sorry if you miss this one, maybe in a very sad way...

Daniel Palmer--An exciting author who forces us to confront the bad as well as the good of technology! With just two novels published, he's now a must-read author for me and I'm already looking forward to his next book!


GABixlerReviews

"Home networks were often the most vulnerable to hackers.
Without proper security in place, it was relatively easy to
hijack those signals. It would explain why Lindsey was
unaware of the Tumblr account. Somebody could have been
parked on the street using the Wellses' Wi-Fi signal to make
those pages and exchange messages. Probably the same
person who created the bogus Facebook profile to accelerate
the spread of the rumor...
"Daddy, it's me," Lindsey said into the phone. "Did you ever
put a password or anything on our wireless network?"

Author Daniel Palmer has authorized using his Advance Uncorrected Proof (Signed!) as a Giveaway! The winner will be selected randomly based upon (1) being a follower of this blog and (2) adding a comment about this review/the book/the author! Please include an email address to be contacted if you win!