Toxic Justice (Justice series, #18)

DI Lorne Warner is charged to investigate the suicide death of a young teenage boy who had been bullied for months. Lorne and her team at first question why they’ve been pulled from homicide. When they do some research and find that there have been several suicides over the last year they find themselves speechless.

The statistics on bullying and suicide are alarming:

* Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.

* Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University

* According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying

This story is fictional ….. but the subject of bullying in the school systems around the country is not.

It’s heart-breaking to read about these young, bright children who do everything in their power to ignore the abuse at school … especially when teachers see it as ‘just playing around.’ It’s sadder to see what the parents go through .. especially the guilt they feel because they had no idea of what their children were experiencing on a daily basis.

Warner and her team work tirelessly to track the young people who are responsible for the acts of bullying and the ones who are sending heart-wrenching text messages.

What she and her team discover is not what you think. Is this the last of the Justice series?

The author has done a fine job writing about such a hard subject. It’s handled with care and comes across as more fact then fiction.

Many thanks to the author for the advanced digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This book immediately starts with a short, sharp shock and it doesn’t stop! The race against time to find the mystery message sender is immediately on. From the minute you’ve read a couple of pages, it is obvious that it’s going to be a heartbreaker of a story.

Toxic Justice is book 18 in the Justice series. It worked very well as a stand-alone but as with any series, I think readers will feel a better connection with main character, Lorne, if they have read others. Saying that, the story is complete and if you just fancied this title, you’re enjoyment of the story would not be compromised.

The author bravely tackles some dark themes. Bullying and teen suicide are the main focuses of the story. The novel also made me think deeply about the power of words and how important it is to treat each other kindly. It also shows how lack of justice is prevalent when it comes to bullying amongst children at school. A deeply sad read.