Review Detail

What I Liked:
Pioneer leads Mandrodage Meadows, a simple community that lives as separate from the rest of society as possible. On the surface, their little community's a bit odd, but, when you dig down into it, things get creepy fast. For one thing, the teens, who are the youngest in the community, are all paired off. Pioneer matched them up into affianced couples. Also, they're not allowed to leave the walled community without express permission from Pioneer. They all also need to practice shooting, in preparation for killing other humans, who might try to break into the silo and steal their stuff in the coming Armageddon. The Brethren, who speak through Pioneer, will only protect the chosen.

Lyla's family fell in with Pioneer when he came to sympathize with them following the abduction of the eldest daughter. He found people mired in grief and weak to suggestion of anything that might make life better, and who, more to the point, had the required skill sets he needed. Cult leaders have to be smart and ruthless.

There are a lot of intense scenes in Gated, and it will have a lot of appeal for thriller fans. Even the romance is done fairly well, I think. Lyla becomes a bit overly obsessed with Cody, but that's a nice metaphor for her longing for something outside the community. She's curious about him because he's something new and her engagement to Will isn't want she wants. He signifies her desire to explore something else. It's not so much about him in my mind as about anything that's new and different.

What Left Me Wanting More (or in one case less):
Unfortunately, I never bonded with Lyla. She is both too naive and not naive enough to work for me in this context. I think the reason I felt so ambivalent was that she was questioning the society from the start. Though I can see most of the others buying into Pioneer's schtick, she never really did and she's fairly naive, so I never felt as intimidated by him or the cult as I think I should have. Perhaps if there had been some flashbacks to the referenced time period when she really didn't think Pioneer was all that, I would have felt more of her pain in seeing her whole world shaken by the realization.

My other issue is that, though initially listed as a standalone, Gated now has a sequel to follow. Honestly, Gated works just fine as a standalone and I don't see why one is needed in this case. While it's not Parker's fault, I'm losing patience with the endless onslaught of the few standalone novels becoming sequels.

The Final Verdict:
Readers who enjoy thrillers will definitely want to check out Gated as will, for lack of a better term, cult enthusiasts. There's a lot of action and a lot of creepiness in here to enjoy.