Under Threat

By Robin Stevenson

Franny is close to her parents, adores her horse and is head over heels in love with her girlfriend, Leah. But Franny’s parents are abortion providers at the local hospital, and an anonymous stranger is prepared to do whatever it takes to stop them. A stranger who phones at all hours. Who knows where they live. Who knows Franny’s name. When Leah’s older brother, Jake, refers to her parents as baby killers, Franny starts to wonder if perhaps the threats aren’t coming from a stranger at all. If she tells the police about her suspicions, she could lose her girlfriend. But if she doesn’t—and if she’s right—she could lose her parents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Mar 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781459811324

Robin Stevenson

Robin Stevenson is an award-winning author of books for kids and teens. Her writing has been translated into several languages and published in more than ten countries. She lives with her family on the west coast of Canada.

Reviews for Under Threat

[fionaanne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book would be a wonderful vehicle to start discussion with teenagers about religious extremism and domestic (i.e. christian) terrorism but as a novel unto itself, seems rather heavy-handed.

Our narrator, Franny, is traumatized by repeated threats to her doctor parents (both abortion providrs) and ends up lashing out at her girlfriend's brother for his ignorant views and possibly alienating her beloved forever. But they make up and its fine. I think this book could have been much more nuanced if it had been told from the perspective of Leah, the girlfriend.

I recieved this book free from Orca through GoodReads.

[majesdane-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

More of a novella than a novel, and definitely written for a younger age group. I guess if I was 12 or so this wouldn't have been an awful read, but at 28 years old this did absolutely nothing for me. Simple story, flat characters, rushed resolution, etc.