Unleashed

Retribution

by Sigmund Brouwer

Jace has it all--money, cars and status. What he doesn't have is a happy home life. Forced to protect his brother from an abusive father and a neglectful mother, Jace lives a double life on the wrong side of the tracks, learning to box and trying to survive on his own merits while plotting to expose his father as the monster he is. Working reluctantly with two girls who have their own thoughts of vengeance, Jace finds that he is not as alone as he thought and that there are people he can trust.
Part of RETRIBUTION--a high-interest trilogy that can be read in any order.

Genres: Abuse, Teen, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult

168 pages, Paperback

Published October 13, 2015

About the author

Sigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.

Reviews

[Steven Buechler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only does Brouwer have a suspenseful novel here but he touches on themes that occur in young lives. The book deals with Jace, who has been dealing with a cold and abusive household for a very long time. The situation is worsening and Jace decides to take matters into his own hands before his brother is hurt even more. The story is one of the The Retribution Series that young readers can continue to read on with.

http://tinyurl.com/qj8zvfk

[Kassidy]

The book Unleashed by Sigmund Brouwer is kinda a freaky book at points in the story. Jace is the main character and he has a little brother which he is trying to protect from his father because he is abusive and arrogance. Jace has been running from his father and family for a while and also has been running from the law for a long time. This story sets place in the 1980's and is in a big city in a small town that is run down and is weird and creepy. This book I dont prefer because I dont enjoy reading about story's that have this kind of plot and settings. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy about reading scary and weird story's and enjoy having a different kind of weird and spooky plot.

[Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was was fine and it was confusing which made me ever more interesting for me, basically the main character Jace is the adopted son of a billionaire and he didn't know this until the last pages of the book, and so he has the mind of like the smartest kid in the world and hes like Sherlock Homes, and hes a hacker so is his bother, but not really his brother cause hes adopted and so he was torcherd with curling irons, and he meet these two girls in his class right after the torcher, and so he though they did it cause they came like seconds right after the torcher so he kept quiet he finally notice that they didn't torcher him and they need help with the things there going through too, in but main part of the story is that hes trying to get revenge on his step dad, find out what his agents are doing, turns out his step dad is a very bad guy and his agent was the one that torcher Jace. Jace put his dad in jail, took his money, and lived a better live not a happy one.

[Dawson Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jace is a boy who grew up with everything he's wanted. He wanted to get away from his abusive and arrogant father so he decided to join a gym and box. One night he found himself being interrogated with a curling irons taped to each hand constantly burning his hands. Jace soon meets up with these two girls, Raven and jo. Raven and jo gave information about Jace's father, Jace soon hires a detective to get information on his dad. They were having a hard time figuring out the real truth by blackmailing doctors to give them information. The truth finally slips and finds out and his dad switched babies in the hospital and has been hiring people to try and kill Jace. Jace soon realized there is another boy out there with the wrong family, Jace, raven, and jo plan on finding that kid.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book big cliffhanger, a lot of things happen truly a good book.

[Paul Vender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jace who's all about his money and his cars and not to mention his ego finds himself living at home with his abusive father. With his abusive father Jace will have to protect him from his father. With his mom gone nobody is there to watch over him. In the story you will learn how Jace has the prefect plan to finally expose his father for what he all did. He gains the trust of two girls in the story which share the same thoughts with Jace and want in on helping him. This story is a very good short read if you enjoy reading creepy/spooky stories. You will learn how much of a monster Jaces father really is in the book Unleashed (Retribution)

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unleashed (Retribution)is a fast paced, short read aimed at a hi-lo audience. The main character, Jace, lives in two worlds. His father is extremely wealthy and has high expectations for Jace and his brother, Bently (who was born with dwarfism). In his free time, Jace poses as a normal kid from the street and spends his time boxing. After receiving an anonymous email (from his mother, we later learn), Jace decides to investigate his father's actions the day his brother Bently was born. His father openly mocks Bently for his dwarfism. Jace gets his two acquaintances Raven and Jo to help out. He soon learns that his father tried to switch Bently with another baby. Jace's father discovers the investigation and tries to murder Jace and his mother.

There is a lot of heavy material here to unpack in a quick 160 pages. There was non stop action from page one, which is sure to keep readers interested. The characters were simple and the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end. While I didn't really enjoy the book very much myself, I can see hi-lo YA readers getting into this series.

Grade Range: 9-12
Genre: Realistic
Literary Merit: Mediocre
Characterization: Good
Recommendation: Recommended

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one! It was a super fast and easy read. Kids would enjoy this series.

[Godly Gadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing YA thriller (2 stars)

I've enjoyed some of Sigmund Brouwer's thriller novels, in part because of their Christian content, and because they were excellent page-turners in their own right. Unleashed fails on both accounts.

Admittedly, it is also a slightly different genre, geared to teens, but even as a YA thriller it is merely just "okay" and barely satisfying. The basic storyline is about a kid named Jace who lives in a rich but abusive family, and who takes revenge on his evil dad with the help of his dwarf brother Bentley, and the help of two girls named Raven and Jo. And it's not even that great a plot.

But the worst of it is the moral failures evident here. We meet a completely dysfunctional family, where everyone hates each other. Literally. Jace can have anything that money could buy, but his father and mother are both complete deadbeats, not to mention that they also hate each other. The focus of the storyline is for the protagonist to take revenge on his dad, whom he absolutely detests.

Since this book is the start of a series, at the end we find him teaming up with Raven and Jo, and their mission going forward is to get revenge for other people who feel they've experienced injustice. I guess that explains the title of the series, "Retribution". But it flies completely in the face of what the Bible says in Romans 12:19 "Never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God."

If there's anything Christian about the author, it's certainly not evident in this book. Besides implicitly endorsing a spirit of revenge, we also find characters "flipping the bird", and discussion about "hot girls". Even the main character himself is distinctly unlikeable. Very disappointing all round.

[Kole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as one of my free choice novels for my 9th grade English class. I would give Sigmund Brouwer’s book Unleashed a 3.5 out of 5 stars. The beginning was good because it started with action. I struggled with the middle because it was not as exciting as the beginning. The middle skipped around and it made following the plot challenging. Towards the end of the book the story line start to pick back up and gain more action. I am not sure my reading style worked with his writing style.

[Janie Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unleashed was a quick read but a very engaging story. The main character, Jace, captures your attention right from the start. Brouwer creates a story of tension and trouble with an interesting plot twist. This is perfect for teens and reluctant readers.

[FullyBooked · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigmund Brouwer came to our school, and I picked up this book for $10. A very quick read. This book was very entertaining, and I found myself entwined in the plot all the same. Good on you sigmund!

[Rachel Seigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good new hi-lo title for reluctant readers. Lots of action, tech & suspense combine for a quick read. The series is designed to be read in any order, but having read two of the three, I think a natural order will emerge.

[Judith Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a fantastic time working with Natasha and Sigmund on the Retribution Trilogy - prepare for Jace to be UNLEASHED!