What do you think?
Rate this book
The Refugee Sentinel
It’s 2052 and our world is dying – the population has reached 34 billion; the polar caps have melted and Earth has become a single-country planet. Our survival seems to be guaranteed by a draconian new law requiring the expendables to choose someone to die or choose to die in someone else's stead. Only the High-Potentials, those whose contributions are deemed essential to humankind, are exempt.
Yana Perkins is eight and lives with her mother Sarah. But what if Yana were earmarked for death? And what if Sarah were not allowed to take her daughter's place? And what if the one who could replace Yana is being marked by someone else?
Yana Perkins is eight and lives with her mother Sarah. But what if Yana were earmarked for death? And what if Sarah were not allowed to take her daughter's place? And what if the one who could replace Yana is being marked by someone else?
- GenresScience FictionFiction
278 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2015
10 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Harrison Hayes
4 books7 followersHarrison Hayes went to the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle with his wife and son.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 29, 2015
An extraordinary story about the power of love, told in an original and absorbing way.This is a story about the only and unconditional love that compels a father to sacrifice himself for his child. A story about a young orphan who falls asleep with the thought of her helpless puppy and who later becomes a killing machine.A story about a women who gambles her future away to chase unreturned emotions.A story about a blind man who overcomes his pain and keeps living immersed in his passion for music. This book is an absolutely must read.
May 16, 2019
The Refugee Sentinel by Harrison Hayes
The year is 2052 population has outgrown the earth the polar caps are melting and the people who are considered to be High-Potentials are the only people deemed of any value to the future. When world governments come up with a lottery like system to reduce the population things begin to happen in the background that are subtle nudges toward trying to affect at least one of the High-Potentials. This novel has a lot going for it; but it will be taking you out of your comfort zone, which is never a bad thing. This time though this one takes the reader into the strange world of the antagonist (hit woman); and had there been any reason for us to even remotely want to have compassion for that character it might have been compelling. Unfortunately in this story there is little reason to feel anything for the trained hit person and I'm confused as to why we need to see so much of their training; since that entire thread distracts the reader from the real story: I think.
This is a well written story; but one of those that likes to time travel through back-story to get us to the day of greatest interest. Li-Mei, the hit woman, has a horrible past. Taken from her parents at a young age and trained to be an instrument of death. Now she is out in the world meting out death and destruction one step ahead of the lottery. She's been trained to be a heartless killer.
Colton Parker is a loser. The estranged husband of a High-Potential, Sarah, and father to an eight year old girl named Yana; Colton is going to find himself the center of attention from two directions. Each agency focused on him wants to see him dead.
This is the year that everyone must earmark each other for death. They can't earmark High-Potentials, so Sarah is safe; but some faceless person presumably working for a government wants to disrupt Sarah's life and earmarks her daughter Yana. The law says that someone might volunteer to take the death sentence from Yana and Sarah is hoping her estranged husband can be shamed into doing that.
For the mysterious evil plan to succeed the unknown agency must make sure that Colton Parker does not live long enough to save his daughter.
There is a reason behind his whole plan; and the entire concept of the lottery to reduce the population and having it go awry is enough to keep the reader in the story. The description of what Li-Mei goes through for her training is a bit disturbing and for me added little to the story. Perhaps if she could have been portrayed as some sort of hero, having to make a sacrifice at the end, it may have justified a need to show her back-story. As it is accomplishing her mission never really took much more from her than to be of cold-blooded murderous intent. Since the trail of bodies she was leaving showed that well enough, I didn't feel I needed to know much more than that she was a contract killer. Perhaps for me it didn't delve enough into her emotionally. I have enjoyed books such a those written by Trevanian where the protagonist might be a hit man for hire who has a set value system that's being challenged by the more egregious elements of the business and must decide how much they need to sacrifice and how far they will be pushed before they push back. I didn't see that here.
Perhaps, as often is the case, that's just me. There might be a lot of people who love to understand what made the cold-blooded killer the way they are. I felt it distracted from the purpose of this story; if the story was to be mostly about Colton Parker's willingness and capability of making a sacrifice. That back-story is well told and demonstrates the challenge behind that decision.
This is a Mystery Suspense Thriller Dystopia that should hold the interest of Thriller fans and maybe even those who like to dwell in the mind of the cold-blooded person who dogs the multi-flawed protagonist.
J.L. Dobias
The year is 2052 population has outgrown the earth the polar caps are melting and the people who are considered to be High-Potentials are the only people deemed of any value to the future. When world governments come up with a lottery like system to reduce the population things begin to happen in the background that are subtle nudges toward trying to affect at least one of the High-Potentials. This novel has a lot going for it; but it will be taking you out of your comfort zone, which is never a bad thing. This time though this one takes the reader into the strange world of the antagonist (hit woman); and had there been any reason for us to even remotely want to have compassion for that character it might have been compelling. Unfortunately in this story there is little reason to feel anything for the trained hit person and I'm confused as to why we need to see so much of their training; since that entire thread distracts the reader from the real story: I think.
This is a well written story; but one of those that likes to time travel through back-story to get us to the day of greatest interest. Li-Mei, the hit woman, has a horrible past. Taken from her parents at a young age and trained to be an instrument of death. Now she is out in the world meting out death and destruction one step ahead of the lottery. She's been trained to be a heartless killer.
Colton Parker is a loser. The estranged husband of a High-Potential, Sarah, and father to an eight year old girl named Yana; Colton is going to find himself the center of attention from two directions. Each agency focused on him wants to see him dead.
This is the year that everyone must earmark each other for death. They can't earmark High-Potentials, so Sarah is safe; but some faceless person presumably working for a government wants to disrupt Sarah's life and earmarks her daughter Yana. The law says that someone might volunteer to take the death sentence from Yana and Sarah is hoping her estranged husband can be shamed into doing that.
For the mysterious evil plan to succeed the unknown agency must make sure that Colton Parker does not live long enough to save his daughter.
There is a reason behind his whole plan; and the entire concept of the lottery to reduce the population and having it go awry is enough to keep the reader in the story. The description of what Li-Mei goes through for her training is a bit disturbing and for me added little to the story. Perhaps if she could have been portrayed as some sort of hero, having to make a sacrifice at the end, it may have justified a need to show her back-story. As it is accomplishing her mission never really took much more from her than to be of cold-blooded murderous intent. Since the trail of bodies she was leaving showed that well enough, I didn't feel I needed to know much more than that she was a contract killer. Perhaps for me it didn't delve enough into her emotionally. I have enjoyed books such a those written by Trevanian where the protagonist might be a hit man for hire who has a set value system that's being challenged by the more egregious elements of the business and must decide how much they need to sacrifice and how far they will be pushed before they push back. I didn't see that here.
Perhaps, as often is the case, that's just me. There might be a lot of people who love to understand what made the cold-blooded killer the way they are. I felt it distracted from the purpose of this story; if the story was to be mostly about Colton Parker's willingness and capability of making a sacrifice. That back-story is well told and demonstrates the challenge behind that decision.
This is a Mystery Suspense Thriller Dystopia that should hold the interest of Thriller fans and maybe even those who like to dwell in the mind of the cold-blooded person who dogs the multi-flawed protagonist.
J.L. Dobias
May 21, 2015
This book was at times scary thinking about how this could happen in the future. I liked how the book skipped around in time and part of reading it is putting together why each thing was happening at a certain time. Once you get it together it's amazing. Personally I loved the ending but that is for new readers to decide! I won this book on goodreads and feel lucky that I was the once chosen!
February 8, 2018
This book was simply amazing… Unlike some, where you only want to know what happens at the end, this kept me hooked from first to last page.
January 16, 2016
Pulse-pounding!
I really like Li-Mei. She is vicious, incredibly intelligent, and a general bad-ass chick! She probably shouldn't be my favorite character, but she is. She is so well written.
This was an intriguing story. I've never read anything quite like it before. It was told from two points in time, giving you the whole story in a much rounder picture. It was predictable at the Father's Day moment. It was literally what any parent in the universe would do for their child. The rest of the story though, I couldn't call it. You just had to keep reading to find it all out.
I love dystopian stories. I like it even more with a contract killer... female, no less. Way cool!
Lots of you out there are going to eat this book up like I did. So really ask yourself, what are you waiting for? Get it.
4.5/5
I really like Li-Mei. She is vicious, incredibly intelligent, and a general bad-ass chick! She probably shouldn't be my favorite character, but she is. She is so well written.
This was an intriguing story. I've never read anything quite like it before. It was told from two points in time, giving you the whole story in a much rounder picture. It was predictable at the Father's Day moment. It was literally what any parent in the universe would do for their child. The rest of the story though, I couldn't call it. You just had to keep reading to find it all out.
I love dystopian stories. I like it even more with a contract killer... female, no less. Way cool!
Lots of you out there are going to eat this book up like I did. So really ask yourself, what are you waiting for? Get it.
4.5/5
May 27, 2015
I received this book free for review from the author. I was drawn to this cover, the model is exceptionally gorgeous. I thought the story sounded really good and I love a good dystopian, post apocalyptic. This book read really easily but I didn't really like how everything was set up. I didn't like how the story bounced around to past and present. Li-Mei surprisingly was my favourite character. Especially after Taxi. I want more of her story.
Thanks Harrison for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Thanks Harrison for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
May 10, 2015
Very good story. Each chapter is about either a person or an event in that person's life leading up to the crux of the story. Defiance Day. Little bits of story that keep compiling and start to give you a picture of what is going on in this future driven story. Unusual and surprising. If you are looking for a read outside of the normal page turner, I would definitely recommend this one.
May 9, 2015
Set in our future dystopian world, the globe is under one government, population is completely out of control, our natural resources have failed and the ice caps have melted leaving coastal cities underwater.
Very descriptive, detailed, convoluted story and characters.
A light warning to those with tender sensitivities - some passages are rather cruel and vicious.
Very descriptive, detailed, convoluted story and characters.
A light warning to those with tender sensitivities - some passages are rather cruel and vicious.
May 13, 2015
Honestly I felt this book could of been so much better. But it flipped flopped so many times from past to present and other character views that I found it hard to follow. I could not immerse myself in this book and was disappointed cause it sounded like a great book. The basis of the book and most of the characters were good. I just was unable to finish this. I am sorry.
January 1, 2016
I really did enjoy this book. A great piece of futuristic scifi. All the characters are so well written and full that you feel each of their hurts and victories. You become immersed in the world of rising waters, acid rain, over population, and of an assassin in training. Heart breaks and heart leaps throughout.
May 15, 2015
3.5 stars. Gripping--ruined some sleep--and somewhat thought-provoking. However, needed copyediting, uncomfortably violent at times, and Mei-Ling's back story was not persuasive to me as a psychiatrist.
November 3, 2015
This book jumped around quite a bit and was a little hard to understand at times. Once I got half way through things started to piece together, and I ended up really enjoying it!
May 31, 2015
Gave in about a third of the way through.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews