Out Of The Dark

Almost all of the child molester's stories begin with the kidnap of a child. But when the child's mother doesn't see anything but her happiness is a grisly fact. If you have a heart in your body you'll surely shed some tears with this one.

Disillusioned by life, Margaret Cochrane finds an illusion of joy with the People of Love. Drawn in by their snake charming leader, Solomon, she steals her baby and leaves her husband, Sam, behind, never dreaming that instead of Heaven, she was consigning herself and her little girl, Jade, to Hell. Twenty five years later, Jade and her friend, Raphael, have escaped the People and been on the run for longer than they can remember. The art that sustains them will be their salvation. One of Margaret's acquaintances sees a portrait Jade did of her mother, and that is enough for Sam's detective friend, Luke, to find Jade. The years have left scars on Jade's soul. After her mother died, she became a commodity, sold to the pedophile who would pay the most. Only when maturity made her unappealing to that brand of pervert could she and Rafe escape. Yet, unknown to Jade, Rafe is dying because of what was done to him. Being found by Luke and Sam is an answer to his own prayers; now he knows he can leave Earth with Jade cared for, he just doesn't know how soon. Those who hurt them the most have seen the pictures as well, and want to silence the two runaways. When they kill Rafe, Luke becomes determined they won't do the same to the woman he's come to love. ***** Light and dark contrast in this complex novel. Jade and Rafe will wrench your heart with the beauty of their souls. Somehow, both retain an innocence despite the hardness of their lives. A round of applause must go to Ms Sala for avoiding the overused angst that might be used in characterizing Jade and Luke's relationship. Overall, this novel is suspenseful, sweet, and hopeful all at once. *****

I don't understand how even one person could give this story less than 5 stars. While some would not like reading that there is child abuse out there, the fact is, there is. If the reader below hadn't skipped so much of the book, maybe she would have understood it better. I think Ms. Sala did a wonderful job throughout this book (as she does with all her books) Commenting on the dates of the war is irrelevant to the storyline; frankly.. who cares? I certainly don't. If I did, wouldn't be reading romance novels, I would be reading history books. That said, I enjoyed reading about Jade and Rafael. Jade kidnapped by her mother was placed in a situation where men abused young children. Rafael was the friend she met at that place and while they led a very harsh life, they got through it together. It was very sad to learn that Rafael was sick but what he wanted most was to be remembered. Jade had a wonderful father and a man who truly loved her to help her through the sorrows in her life. I truly enjoy reading books where all get get their just desserts in the end; and this was one of them. I have yet to read a Sharon Sala book that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. This is a great story and one I will never forget.

Normally I don't pay much attention to reviews because they are, after all, someone's honest opinion and as a writer, I will be the first person to allow it to be said, whether it's positive or negative regarding my work. But I happened to notice that two or three of the last reviews posted kept mentioning something about the date of the Vietnam War having been over by 1977 and that I referred to it as ongoing. I'm sorry, but I beg to differ. The phrase I used was "The country HAD BEEN at war for years..." Not WAS. Never did I infer or refer to it still being active. As to my illiteracy, my mother, grandmother, and 9 memembers of my immediate family, who are or were teachers, (I chose to write books, not teach from them) would certainly take exception with that. I learned to read when I was four and it is still my favorite pastime. I will not defend the subject matter of the story to someone who was offended, for it is a dark subject and I never intended it to be anything else but despicable. What I take to heart and to my bed each night, are the prayers for the MANY readers who's lives mirrored my heroine's life at one level or another, and who've contacted me. It was written for them. They were the true victims and they were not offended - they were both moved and thankful that I dealt with such an ugly subject (one that had happened to them in varying degrees) with sensitivity and honesty. As a writer, I ask for nothing more.

This book was one of the best suspense novels taht I have read in the longest time. It starts out in 1977 when the main character, Jade, is four years old. Her mother, Margaret, is unhappy in her marriage and decides she wants to have an adventure. She notices this group of hippies and decides that she wants to know what their life style is like. She finds out that the name of the group is called People Of Joy. What she dosen't know is that they are a cult. Margaret takes her daughter, Jade with her when she goes to visit with the People. Their leader, Solomon, praises Margaret on how perfect the four year old Jade is. Margaret then makes up her mind that she wants to spend the rest of her life with the People Of Joy. She kidnaps her own daughter from her bed and then takes off for her new life with the People Of Joy. Bad idea. She dies of a drug overdose when Jade is six, and then Jades life turns into hell.I'm restating that the People Of Joy were actually a cult. Without her mother around to protect her, Solomon uses Jade to make money. While under the "care" of Solomon, Jade and all of the other kids whose parents brought them to the cult were molested.Most of this history of Jade's life is made known to the readers through flashbacks. When we first see Jade as a woman, she is about 24-25 years of age. She is a street artist and she has one painting of a woman named Ivy. Ivy happens to be the new name Margaret took after joining the People Of Joy. Anyway, unknown to Jade, her father is desperate to find her. Some of his friends are vacationing in San Francisco when they go out to this art fair and see the painting of Ivy. One woman claims she knows the woman in the portrait. Jade, thinking that the woman some how knows Solomon, freaks out. Jade sells the portrait for $500--cash only. Jade then turns to Raphael, he happens to be one of the former children who was molested while under the control of Solomon, and she asks him if they can leave. He agrees and they are soon on their way to New Orleans. Jades father, meanwhile, has seen the portrait of 'Ivy' and then he hires an ex-cop to find Jade. The ex-cop succeeds, and then the story goes on the news and one of the men who molested Jade when she was a child recognises her and he freaks out.He calls Solomon, Solomon tells him to lay low and it will all blow over, he dosen't listen to Solomon and hires somebody to kill Jade and Raphael. The hitman only succeeds in killing Raphael, who happens to be in the hospital with liver cancer and full blown AIDS. However, when he kills Raphael, he dosen't expect him to fight back. Raphael ripped out the IV line and blood starts to spurt everywhere. Raphael also manages to scratch up the hitmans hands and draw blood. The hitman finally wins the struggle by strangling Raphael. Raphael dies with a smile on his face and it bugs the hell out of the hitman he has a smile on. He's more than angry when he finds out that Raphael had A