From back cover: Katherine Tarbox was thirteen when she met twenty-three-year-old "Mark" in an online chat room. A top student and nationally ranked swimmer attending an elite school in an affluent Connecticut town, Katie was also a lonely and self-conscious eight-grader who craved the attention her workaholic parents couldn't give her. "Mark" seemed to understand her; he told her she was smart and wonderful. When they set a date to finally meet while Katie was in Texas for a swim competition, she walked into a hotel room and discovered who -- and what -- her cyber soul mate really was.

In Katie.com, Tarbox, now eighteen, tells her story -- a frightening and eye-opening tale of one teenager's descent into the seductive world of the Internet. Tarbox's harrowing experiene with her online boyfriend would affect her life for years to come and result in her becoming the first "unnamed minor" to test a federal law enacted to protect kids from online sexual predators.

In a time when a new generation is growing up online, Tarbox's memoir offers a rare and candid look at what it's like to be a girl in the Internet Age.

My thoughts: This book wants to shock you, to horrify you, perhaps even to scare you. Unfortunately, in this day and age, Katie's story is common, rather than shocking. Any parent who doesn't believe that their 13-year-old daughter may be preyed upon online is living in an amazing state of denial. Katie's story is from quite a few years ago, though, so her story was breaking news then, a fact which becomes more and more obvious as the story progresses.

It is easy to see how profoundly and deeply this experience affected Katie, though I think a large percentage of that has to do with her friends' and family's responses. As horrible as her experience with "Mark" was, I find her parents' reactions almost as bad. This book definitely tells parents what NOT to do when faced with this sitiuation.

The book did not shock me, unfortunately, though I wish we lived in a world in which behaviour like this WOULD be shocking. Katie was very, very lucky to have escaped as children are abducted and killed every year by online pedophiles. Any parent who, inexplicably, is not monitoring their child's internet use should definitely read this book. Also recommended for young people as a wake-up call.

Reserved for my biographies/memoirs bookbox.

Posted to Kuwait as part of my Memoirs/Biographies virtual bookbox. It was sent yesterday by surface mail, so be patient!!

Recieved this morning, what a surprise. That was fast, though, considering that it was sent via surface mail.

Looks like an interesting story. I sort of know what to expect; many similar stories took place here in Kuwait, too. But reading what the 'victim' has to say must be good, I guess.

Thanks a lot, Firegirl