Blogcritics.org

Amazon Reviewer: Susan Reno Gilliland, Blogcritics.org

Mark Locke Mills' first book doesn't pull any punches. He visualized a hard-hitting and powerful storyline and refused to sugarcoat the contents to attempt a more marketable product when he finished his last page. In doing so, he turned the spotlight on a subject that many would prefer stayed hidden from the light. Mark found that the crime of child abuse is much more prevalent and pervasive than most people seem to realize. He compiled statistics from numerous sources and used actual statistical data woven into his fictional storyline to stress the severity of the growing number of cases every year.

Mills brought a very difficult subject out of the shadows and into the light, where it needs to be. We can't continue to be a nation that will address other issues, but prefers to keep our collective heads in the sand when it comes to issues regarding the physical, sexual, and emotional abuses of our children. As someone who has worked directly with law enforcement, legal agencies and mental health agencies on many matters, which sadly often involved children and child abuse, I applaud the work Mark has done.

Fiction
Title: To Protect the Innocent
Author: Mark Mills
Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Review from BookReview.com

What does a parent do when their child disappears? Panic sets in. Doubt, worry, fear, frustration, and despair all wreak havoc. Anger might take over, and depression can set in. How does a parent feel when it is discovered that their missing child was sexually abused and murdered? What would you do?

Dan was a cop who left his job to spend more time with his son. He took an investigations desk job in order to work the 9 - 5 shift. He may have made this change in his life just a little too late. When her son Mike disappears, Jan frantically calls Dan for help. His instincts as an ex-cop tell him it is already too late. Jan dives into a deep depression and the strain of the whole tragedy puts their marriage in danger. But really, this danger is just an inkling of what is to come.

Running parallel to this plot is the career of Ross Huggins, an FBI researcher who wants desperately to be doing real fieldwork. He doesn't realize that fieldwork in the crime world of pedophiles is horrendous. Then there is the ongoing story of TV reporter Susan Jensen, who is trying to make her mark in the world be exposing the vile sadness of child rape and profiling pedophiles.

As in life, the plots all merge in the end, and in this case it is all to protect the children, or is it really about revenge? The author has woven the lives of his characters well and the result is a twisted, unique tale that demonstrates an understanding of various human shortfallings and defects, as well as the nicer side of things like marriage, parenting and love. This is a fast paced book that will find you engrossed and tempted to stay up late into the night reading.

"To Protect the Innocent" is a reminder to parents to be mindful of whom their children have contact with. It is also a reminder to us all that while we think our actions and plans are geared to one purpose, we may be fooling ourselves in justifying our feelings. This is a powerful book and one you will not soon forget.

Good read raises good questions

Amazon Reviewer: Dr. L.L. Heinrich

Mills' novel has everything a good thriller should -- a page-turning plot, plenty of action, characters we like and ones we despise, and insights into what makes them tick. In To Protect the Innocent, Mills tests our morals as well as our nerves -- how far is too far to go in righting injustice?

Gripping story

Amazon Reviewer: Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA United States) -

This author certainly has a story to tell, and it's not a pretty one! Pedophilia is described in this book as "America's dirty little secret", and that really does appear to be the case. According to what we are told in this work, there are thousands of pedophiles out there, and each one may have contact with multiple victims. The plot of this cautionary tale revolves around the actions of a father whose son is kidnapped, molested and murdered. While I can't agree with the course of action he takes, as the grandfather of two beautiful little girls, I can feel his pain, and understand why he does what he does, even if I don't condone it. This is not a cheery book, but one that literally hits you in the face with a message about child sexual abuse: something must be done about these predators!!

Disturbing but gripping book

Amazon Reviewer: Grady

I found the book to be very disturbing because of the subject matter. I usually don't read these types of books but was loaned the book by a friend. While the subject matter was disturbing, it was also a very gripping subject. When I hear stories about this subject on the news, I usually wonder how much is actually true and how much is hype. According to this book (and I believe it) there is very little hype in these reports. We need books like these to keep us aware of how much evil is in the world and that we need to protect our children.

TCM Reviews

Amazon Reviewer: Tami Brady

To Protect the Innocent
Mark Locke Mills
Publish America
ISBN: 1-59286-413-9
Contemporary
Reviewed by Tami Brady

To Protect the Innocent is a very difficult book to read. This book is not hard to read because of the actual writing. In fact, the writing is splendid and the characters act and react in realistic ways creating a well crafted story. No, the challenging part of this book is the actual topic, sexual abuse of children. This book follows the lives of several interconnected individuals. These people include a child activist touched by such abuse; the parents of a child who was abused and murdered; police assigned to these cases, a pedophile in therapy, and several individuals in the child sex trade. All of these stories are frank giving the reader insight into the lives of these individuals and what drives them. In each case, the reader will likely feel very strongly about the words and actions of each character. Very powerful, very scary, and very important.

Educational Thriller about Pedophilia

Amazon Reviewer: Donald Mitchell
"Your Entrepreneurial Coach: Build a Billion Dollar Business by Reading http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/"
(a citizen of the world based on Boston)

You probably don't think you want to read a novel about pedophilia. I didn't think I did either, but I'm glad I read To Protect the Innocent.

As the book opens, a family is faced with one of the worst things that can happen: A child on the way home from school disappears into nowhere. What would you do? How would you feel?

After you read this book, I guarantee you that you'll be sure that your children and grandchildren are kept under close watch. As some dioceses of the Catholic Church have learned the hard way, pedophiliacs often repeat their crimes. Yet the justice system doesn't come down very hard on the few abusers it finds. Many will repeat their crimes hundreds of times before they die. Each incident is potentially another young life seriously marred.

Before reading this book, I had forgotten that I ran into a pedophiliac while I was a teenager. I was traveling on a train by myself to visit relatives in Illinois. The man approached me for some "gay" fun as he described it, and I rebuffed him. I was old enough and big enough to do so. If I had been 8 and on my own, who knows what would have happened? It was a long time before I got over that incident, even though nothing really happened other than I felt threatened. Imagine how much worse it is to be abused as a child.

Much of the thriller aspect of the story is right up there with most crime and punishment novels. I would have graded the book as five stars, but it went over the top for me in the last 50 pages or so. I still enjoyed the story. It's very thought provoking and takes you through all aspects of the problem of pedophilia in a very interesting and helpful way.

If I were grading the book as a warning about keeping an eye on youngsters, the book definitely deserves five stars.

Nice going, Mr. Mills!

Chilling; Disturbing and Scary

Amazon Reviewer: Lonnie E. Holder
"I think, therefore I am. I think."
(Sullivan, Illinois United States)

I have always had eclectic tastes in books, but I would say that "To Protect the Innocent" is unusual even by my standards. The book is a thriller at its core and I enjoy a good thriller. However, this thriller revolves around pedophilia and other than short stories where pedophilia was used to demonstrate how evil a character was, I have never read a book with so much detailed information on the subject. I was initially apprehensive because I have very strong feelings about child abuse in any form, but I found the book interesting and educational. Yes, I said educational, because the author is a layman expert on the subject, developing his knowledge as a national and local reporter for thirteen years and having read more than fifty studies and books on the subject.

Dan and Jan Forester were a nice, normal couple with a son, Mike. One day Dan, a former policeman, is nearing the end of the day as an insurance investigator when Jan calls to tell him that Mike did not come home from school. The nightmare, every parent's nightmare, begins. Mike has disappeared, and there are no traces of him. Initially, investigators ask questions that seem to blame the parents, frustrating Jan and Dan as they felt the police were wasting time that could be spent looking for their son, though they knew that the police had to eliminate them as suspects. The search for Mike begins, and Jan and Dan's marriage and their lives disintegrate until the body of their son is found; then things get worse, especially for Dan.

After learning that a pedophile murdered Mike, Dan decides that his mission in life is to make pedophiles pay for their crimes. If the justice system in this country is unable to make pedophiles pay, Dan will. Dan is quite effective in his new role as vigilante.

This book follows two additional parallel paths involving a reporter who has obtained a grant to do documentaries on pedophilia, and an FBI agent who wants to move from analysis to field work. Ultimately the paths of all these characters collide as the book nears its conclusion. Along the way we get a variety of statistics and perspectives on the subject of pedophilia.

Because I have strong feelings about child abuse in general, I was initially on Dan's side. I found myself applauding Dan as he meted out the justice these disgusting and evil people deserved. However, there came a point where I realized that Dan was becoming as bad in his own way as the people receiving his justice. While there is a certain satisfaction in seeing the people who hurt children victimized in a decisive, and frequently entertaining, manner, I think part of the author's intent was to make readers realize that the answer is not in vigilante justice, but in better laws. I was convinced by the end of the story. If I ever need a reminder, I will re-read the book.

Mark Mills calls pedophilia "America's dirty little secret." I disagree with Mark. Pedophilia is a world problem, and perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it the "World's dirty little secret." Regardless, you would think that a society that dotes on its children as much as the United States would provide a similar level of protection for children, but the statistics presented in the book, which the author assures me were accurate at the time he wrote the book, are scary and disturbing and indicate that America's children are inadequately protected from pedophiles. One of the most disturbing aspects of the book is the Guild, an organization that advocates sexual relationships between men and boys. Mark tells me that there is an actual organization that promotes such relationships.

I doubt if many of us are going to go out of their way to read a book on pedophilia. The subject is abhorrent to most of us, and for many of us we have very strong feelings on the subject. However, as strong as my feelings are about the subject, I found this book good at presenting a variety of viewpoints on the subject, including those of the disgusting pedophiles themselves. I leave it to you to read the book and decide which viewpoint you think is right.

This book is author Mark Locke Mills' first effort. There are places where the book could have used a bit more polish, including a few minor grammatical problems. I initially found it difficult to jump from viewpoint to viewpoint quickly and multiple times in a chapter, but once I got used to the frequent transitions the story moved along nicely. I anticipate that Mark will write yet another book, perhaps on this subject, perhaps something else. Until he does, if you like detective stories and thrillers take a chance on this one because it does a great job at dealing with an incredibly difficult subject.

Note: The viewpoints expressed in this review are my own and I made every effort to keep from naming real people, situations or organizations other than the name of the author.

DENICE'S PIECES REVIEWS

To Protect The Innocent
By Mark Locke Mills
PublishAmerica - Dec., 2003
ISBN: 1-59286-413-9

Reviewed by Denise M. Clark

To Protect the Innocent is an enthralling look into one person's personal nightmare, a nightmare any parent in the world would dread to face - the disappearance of one's child.

Dan Forester is a former police detective who has recently changed careers in order to spend more quality time with his son, Mike. But then Mike suddenly disappears, and unable to deal with the pain of his loss, Dan turns to the bottle. He becomes an alcoholic, but finds a new purpose in life after the police discover the body of his son and he vows to find the man responsible. Doug Glassman is a pedophile - and this is where author Mills' story takes a unique twist. Part of the tale is told from Glassman's point of view - the guilt he feels, the pain, but also his inability to stop.

Finally able to overcome his dependence on liquor to get him through his hellish days, Dan goes out in search for Glassman by posing as a journalist who is writing a book on pedophilia. He becomes a vigilante, meting out justice where he thinks it is due. The thrust of this story, however, is not a black and white issue on pedophilia. It asks the age-old question, is Dan doing what is right by taking the law into his own hands? That is a question each person who reads this riveting story must answer for himself or herself.

Multiple characters and points of view keep this story moving forward at a rapid pace, as does a very well organized story line and plausible dialog. To Protect the Innocent is a fine first book for author Mills, one that offers a look into a sordid and much ignored aspect of modern society.

MyShelf.com Review

Mills makes a stunning debut in this first novel about pedophilia and murder. I was hooked from the first page, and lost some sleep with this book. Daniel Forester and his wife, Jan, suffer the agonies of the damned when their son, Mike fails to come home after school. When Greg Dawson, as part of the terms of a plea-bargain, leads authorities to Mike's body, and all hope is gone, Dan and Jan each go their own way to fight pedophilia. The moral complexities and issues explored in this thought-provoking story are as real as today's headlines and experienced by many parents and grandparents everyday. It's easy to sympathize with Dan in his quest for revenge, disguised as a wish to protect other children. He devises unique punishments for both molesters and sex-traffickers who sell or rent children. Daniel begins to feel a dark cloud hanging over him after each episode. Mike, who was molested and murdered by a pedophile, comes to him in dreams and tries to communicate with Daniel. Dan can't tell what Mike is saying to him, and it's very disturbing. The dreams and the cloud become more intense as Dan carries out his unrelenting mission.

Mills is a master at characterization and the plot is tense and exciting. With a romance thrown in, it's a very engrossing read. I guess I saw the ending coming, but that didn't make it have less impact. I'll definitely be watching for more of Mark Locke Mills' work.

Blether Review

A book to make you think. A book that will stop the heart of any parent. A book about a subject that no one wants to discuss. But it happens. It happened to Dan and Jan Forester. Their son, Mike, was missing. They shared a horror and fear common to parents of missing children and waited fearfully for the phone to ring with the fateful call their son had been found. The heartache they endure will be shared by the reader as each tries to handle their pain. Jan is a nurse and seeks help outside of herself, ending in speaking out about child abuse. While Dan retreats inside himself and seeks to sooth his pain in drink until he too decides to take action and get rid of it. Talented author Mark Locke Mills has tackled a difficult subject and created an interesting, well-written tale that will keep you turning the pages as you follow the lives of two people dealing with a horrid trauma, hoping for an end to their pain. Mr. Mills brings an awareness to the subject of child abuse in many ugly forms and leaves the reader hoping it will one day cease being a reality. Recommended reading for anyone seeking reading material with depth and perception.