Review: Gated

Gated by Amy Christine Parker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Lyla Hamilton has experienced a lot. When she was a small child her sister was kidnapped from in front of their home and was never found. A few weeks later, the World Trade Center attacks occurred. Her parents, but especially her mother, were scared and worried. Enter Pioneer … He has been given visions from the Brethren and convinces Lyla’s parents that they are one of the Chosen. The family sells everything they have and move to a rural area with other families to build the Silo, an underground bunker intended to survive the coming apocalypse. Fast forward 10 years. Lyla is struggling with the idea of shooting to kill in case of an attack. Pioneer has always told them that when the end of days occurs many people will realize the Chosen have resources and will try and take them.

Of course a pre-apocalyptic book would be no good without a confused protagonist. Enter a boy from town that causes her to doubt what she has been taught and encourages her to question what Pioneer has told her and the families in the compound. Gated takes an inside look into what and how a cult may begin. Outsiders always say “I would never be taken in by a crackpot like that,” but we can never know until we are put in that situation. Cults begin slowly, and what if scared parents took impressionable children with them and raised the children to know no difference. Parker shows the reader that not everything is black and white. Also, thinking and processing can be different inside the gates. Readers have outside knowledge of what has really occurred during the 10 years the Silo was being prepared, but the characters are in the dark and are fully trusting Pioneer for all of their information. Will Lyla take her questions to the group? How with the group react? What would you do if you found out everything you thought was true was just a warped version of reality? I recommend this book to readers looking for a captivating stand-alone novel.




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