The Vindico‘s main attraction is the concept.  The premise of the entire book–kidnapping kids and forcing them to become super villains–is very interesting and carries the plot pretty far.  The writing itself is good, though not superb, and the author does make the novel exciting and interesting.  The five protagonists are all quite different with personalities that, for the most part, dictate their actions.  However, the author missed out on two things: one, for a super hero novel, King did not put a lot of focus on the powers of the heroes and villains.  While not vital to the story, the uniqueness and excitement of the powers is part of the attraction of superhero novels.  Two, the end of the novel seemed a little too good to be true.  Other than those two minor flaws, The Vindico was an exciting story of action and revenge!

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  2 mild obscenities; 1 derogatory name; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore:  There are multiple battle scenes involving guns, explosions, and various large objects that cause injury and one death, but with no graphic descriptions.  Characters also threaten each other a lot.

Sex/Nudity:  Characters kiss on multiple occasions.

Mature Subject Matter:

Kidnapping, family problems.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None