Eyes of the Forest

There is some violence including torture, and peril but none of it is over the top or excessively gory. I think the minimum age should be at least 9 and over but 10 year olds could handle it better if they are mature. I think I agree with common sense media that for the sensitive ones, ages 12 and up is great due to the brief violence, and mild language.

This is a story told from multiple viewpoints. Bridget is high school student who has read RM Haldon's fantasy series Swords and Shadows and is an expert on the world the author created. She was introduced to the series when she was young. She and her mother read the stories together while her mother was dying of breast cancer. Bridget met Haldon at one of his rare signings and impressed him enough with her knowledge that he hired her to keep track of the details and answers his questions. RM (Bob) Haldon is the author who is stuck trying to write the final book in the series. He is getting pressure from his publisher, his agents, the people who turned his story into a television series and many, many fans. It has been some years since the last volume was released. Derrick is another teenage fan whose mother works as Bob's personal assistant and housekeeper. Derrick is big into LARPing and the world he and his dad live in is based on Haldon's world but the names have been changed at Haldon's lawyers insistence. Derrick is obsessed with getting the final story. While chatting with his housekeeper, Bob floats the idea of being kidnapped and forced to write the final book. He didn't believe that the housekeeper and Derrick would actually kidnap him and refuse to release him. Derrick plans to sell chapters on the Dark Web but his mother has more extensive plans. She has always resented her ex-husband and son's obsession with living in a fantasy world. So she forces Bob to do a number of things on the spy cam which they are publishing to the Dark Web which are designed to humiliate him. The fourth viewpoint character is Ajay who is Indian-American and who becomes Bridget's friend. He is introduced to Haldon's Swords and Shadows epic by Bridget as she reads him the stories during their lunch period where he supplies Indian food that he has cooked. Bob convinces Derrick to let him send an email to Bridget which is an encoded cry for help. It takes her a while to decode it but no one, including Ajay, believes her when she tries to tell people that Bob is in trouble. The local police are sure that she is just one more obsessed fan. She's on her own to try to locate and rescue Bob. This was an intriguing story with lots to think about. It was brought home to me that a story and a world created in an author's mind can take on something like reality in the mind of an obsessed reader like Derrick. I could also understand Bridget's deep interest in the story because of memories of her mother that the stories recalled. And I could also understand Bob's difficulty with finishing up a series because of the sense of both finality and responsibility to his readers.