Chasing Innocence [Paperback]

The start of this book I found disturbing mainly due to the subject matter a child kidnap. But from that moment onwards the book moved at high speed with a thrill a minute. This is a book that is hard to put down. Highly recommended.

This book is a stunning debut by John Potter. It is one of the few books that has left me desperate to know what happens to the character and one that has made me think how I would react in such a situation.

The story features a host of fabulous and well developed characters and the pace is electric. There are a couple of sub-plots developing alongside the main kidnap story, and a lesson in human survival. The character of Sarah is incredibly well developed, and there were stages in the book where I had to read on, to see how a situation developed... leading to some late nights reading!

Ultimately, for me, this book is about our need and desire to protect children. The book deals with the horrors of paedophilia in a gentle way, hinting only at the horrors without ever needing to explicitly describe it. Potter is excellent at letting the readers mind fill in the gaps, and Sarah's sacrifice to protect the child genuinely haunted me... I wonder if I could do the same, in a similar situation.

The book is excellently produced, and taking a look at the front cover shows just how much effort Potter has put into making this book as professional as possible. There are some indie books that I have read where the `packaging' of the book is almost an after thought. The other noticable thing with Chasing Innocence the editing; this book has clearly had a professional eye cast over it. Again I cannot stress enough just how important good editing is toteh reading experience. All too often I have read books that contradict themselves or have glaring typing errors in or poorly constructed sentences. When this happens it's distracting and interrupts the flow of the book. What Potter has done is ensured that the reader is gripped by this book. The writing style switches effortlessly as we hear Sarah talking to Andrea or as we enter Andrea's world.

The twists and turns expected from any crime/thriller are in abundance in this book, and the violence that you'd expect is there too; often making the reader wince thinking of the pain the character must be in! - I'm thinking at this point about the warehouse scene with Andrea's father....

The manner in which Potter ties up the story at the end if also a good technique, and the epilogue leaves enough for the reader to develop their own future ending.

All in all is a stunning debut novel from John Potter and I can't wait to read future books.

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I bought a Kindle and I wanted to see how downloading books worked. I saw 'Chasing Innocence' very reasonably priced, and I saw a free excerpt, downloaded it quickly and easily and started to read the first few chapters.
There was no way I could leave it there; when the free chapters ended I was hooked! I bought the full version (Kindle directed me straight to it - very easy transaction) and it was on my Kindle in about a minute.
I have to say that it is one of those books you can't put down, literally. I read it quickly and I would recommend it to anyone.
The other reviews give the storyline so I won't repeat it but the author's style is excellent.
I read about 3 books a week and this is one of the bet I've read in a while.