Risk

By: Fleur Ferris
location: FIC FER
Genre: Cyber safety and the ruination of lives


What happens on line, what can happen on line- it is horrifying!
This book is written by an ex policewoman and paramedic, they know, they have seen it.
The way in which our youth are drawn into this online world, when their real life world is full of angst and insecurities, it seems quite understandable at times that young people would feel safe meeting a person in real life whom they’ve met online. These predators buoy up those in need of attention, shower them with interest, and provide that much sought after feeling of being desired. Of course, it’s not only young people that engage in this behavior, but this story focuses on the issue of 16 year old high school student in suburban Melbourne, Australia.
Risk is a novel about a girl named Taylor, whose best friend, Sierra goes missing because she falls in love with a guy she met online. Sierra was perfectly comfortable talking to this stranger online, shares personal details with him, and eventually meets up with him in person. She never really knows who this guy is until it’s too late. Photos can be edited to look like somebody else, facts can be embellished or completely made up and the online persona can be completely different to the one in real life. Taylor spends most of Risk trying to come to terms with what happened to Sierra and strives to bring justice to the man behind the screen who took Sierra.
  While Risk is an excellent novel about online safety and sheds information on online predators, the heart and soul of this novel is really about friendship and grief. You feel the emotion in the writing and this book as a whole packs an emotional punch. 

Anger pulses through my veins, but it is not anger at Jacob Jones. It is anger at me. My stupidity and carelessness. I should have swallowed my pride and gone with Sierra.