Outside the Gate

by Tom Milton

Carol Delaney confronts a parent’s worst nightmare when her twelve-year-old daughter and a friend go missing from a gated resort on a Caribbean island. The local police believe the girls were abducted by a global organization that has a branch on the island and is involved in criminal activities, including human trafficking. A yacht belonging to local members of the organization was seen leaving the harbor around the time when the girls disappeared, but the police find no evidence that the girls were onboard, so they can’t arrest the suspects. After they have determined that the girls are no longer on the island, Carol and her husband return to New York, where they help the FBI pursue the search. When their daughter’s friend escapes from the kidnappers in Panama, it raises their hope of finding their daughter before any more damage is done, but after being threatened by the kidnappers the friend’s parents refuse to let her talk with the FBI, and at this point there are no other leads. As she reaches out to organizations whose mission is to rescue victims of human trafficking and rehabilitate them, Carol discovers another world outside the gate of the one she knew.

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

I have been writing all my life, and sixtteen years ago I started getting my novels published. Since then I have had twenty-two novels published: No Way to Peace, The Admiral’s Daughter, All the Flowers, Infamy, A Shower of Roses, Sara's Laughter, The Golden Door, Outside the Gate, Leave of Absence, Invisible Wounds, Orphans of War, The Silver Locket, Eden Valley, The Godmother, The Last Resort, The Lineman, The Lost Summer, Milos and Amira, A Contrite Heart, Blind in Granada, and A Residue of Hope.

I write novels not only to entertain but also to bring a deeper understanding of how the major events of our time challenge our values. In their pursuit of lofty goals, my protagonists encounter situations that expose their inner conflicts and test their commitments. My books appeal to educated readers of serious fiction and are popular with reading groups. They all have book discussion guides that include an introduction, a conversation with the author, and questions for discussion.

My first career was in journalism with the Wall Street Journal, after which I served in the army during the Vietnam War. Then I joined a large international bank and worked overseas, initially as an economic and political analyst, applying skills I learned in journalism and the military. I spent the next thirty years living and working in foreign countries, which has given me settings for my novels (Buenos Aires, Madrid, London, Santo Domingo, and so on).

For further information on my novels, please visit my website at http://tomilton.com.

Publisher: Nepperhan Press, PO Box 1448, Yonkers, NY 10702, nepperhan.com

Reviews

[Renata Franco]

It’s amazing how respectful Tom Milton talks about such intricate subjects like sex trafficking. Great book

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Throughout the beginning of the novel, up until Amanda is found, there is a lack of character development, leading to too many awkwardly worded, very stunted conversations. Such as in the below example,

"Ramsey paused, and then he asked Brian, 'What do you do for a living?'
'I'm an architect,' Brian said. 'But I'm not a famous one.'
'I work at a college on fund raising,' Carol said.
'So you don't have a lot of money,' Detective Ramsey said."

Which brings me to my next point- the book is full of illogical reasoning. It was annoying at times how quickly the parents and detectives would jump to conclusions based solely off of feelings. It was really difficult to sympathize with the parents because of this and because of the odd pacing as well. The resolution is the strongest part of the book, in terms of writing and plot pacing. In scenes earlier in the book, either they jumped through conversations that could have been explored more, because they were pertinent to the scene, or it just dragged with unnecessary details. There was a complete page with step-by-step instructions on making baked ziti.

I couldn't really become engrossed in this book, mostly because of the characters. They were underdeveloped and acted so oddly for parents whose daughter and daughter's friend had been kidnapped. The pacing slowed down several times with the parents when they were trying to decide what to do next. They awkwardly discussed when to tell Stacy, the friend's parentsm that they had been kidnapped. Rather than immediately, they waited for more information. Once the book was beginning to pick up, they didn't seem to be in any rush to get their daughter back. They'd go to one appointment with a detective, wait to call the other detective the next day, etc. Also, Carol, the mother, frequently brought up her rough childhood and compared it to how protected Amanda was. It was brought up so many times, and I expected to find out what happened or how it would tie in with Amanda's childhood, but it never did. I learned Carol and a friend got harassed by a group of guys in a park and that there were gangs. That's the extent of it.

I don't really know how to categorize my next critique, other than that there were just a lot of really dumb and unnecessary sentences. Such as...

"'If she's being held captive, we might advise her to escape."

"The next morning they drove to the store in Brian's car since it was behind her car in the driveway."

After the mother meets with the doctor in Japan who examined Amanda, instead of asking to see Amanda or even how Amanda is, the mother asks "Where did you learn English?"

"'I have a lot of pictures,' Carol said, taking out her phone. She went to the area where pictures are stored."

I have one last thought that doesn't fit anywhere else, but I wonder what the author has against Russians. There's a lot of unexplained prejudice toward them.

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I waited a few days to do a review of this book because I am honestly conflicted on what to write in the review. The subject of the book and the situations these parents face are some that I definitely think need to be brought to the forefront and discussed if we are ever going to find a solution to the problem. Additionally, the recognition that there are many high profile individuals who are involved in or hiding issues such as human trafficking is something that needs to be addressed as well. However, as much as I wanted to love this book for doing those things and helping others see the victims of human trafficking as real victims who are often not seen as such by agencies, I just don't think it quite did the job. The writing was almost always emotionless which made it very difficult to identify with the parents in any way. At first, I thought this was to convey the shock that the parents were experiencing, but this style stuck through the whole book for the most part. There were so many instances in which the author gave multitudes of details on things that didn't matter (such as baked ziti instructions or whose car the parents were driving at a given moment) and failed to bring us into the minds of the parents. The book would have been much more successful had the reader been able to truly connect with what the parents were feeling on a more visceral level. Additionally, delving into the aftermath more than the short amount that was given to the reader would have pushed the reader to really try to understand the victims, but again, this area fell short. Overall, I think the book raises awareness of an issue that many have little or no knowledge of, but it simply could have done so in a much more successful way if the reader was given more emotion and substance.

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this would be a really great book for a bookclub to discuss. I enjoyed reading it and think that it would create interesting discussion for a book club, especially one that likes to discuss social issues and discuss how they would respond in different circumstances.

When the main character's daughter is kidnapped, along with her best friend, the choices that she makes may seem odd to some, but I think that this book nicely reminds you that you never what you would do until you found yourself in that situation.

I gave this three stars instead of four only because I think that the pacing is a bit strange and there is too much resolution in too short a period of time for me, but I think that it is an interesting read. Still, it will definately make you think and there is a lot packed into its pages.

I do have to declare that I receieved my book free of charge from the Goodreads Firstreads giveaway.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title, "Outside the Gate," is a good choice in that it captures the reader's attention and nicely represents the theme of the book. Once I began to read, I was unable to put the book down until it was finished. All in all, it was well written; although, spending a full page on the preparation of baked zita added nothing to the story and seemed out of place.

[Darcee Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am addicted to crime shows and love true crime novels so this book piqued my interest right from the start. Milton is a wonderful author with unique ideas. Outside the Gate has strong characters and is a fairly quick read. I was very excited to win this giveaway and was not disappointed.