How I Heard About It: When I finished Mosquitoland by Arnold I could wait to see he would come up with next. I thought that story was unique, interesting, and a GREAT read. I remember hearing about his second novel from many of my Twitter friends. Last spring I was in a book store and began reading it, but didn't purchase it at the time. It was downloaded on my Kindle when we traveled over Christmas break. I didn't get to it on that vacation, but started reading it at the beginning of 2017. What It Is About: Not an easy task to do. I'm not sure I'm a "deep" enough reader to really have grasped this story line. But I shall try. Victor and Madeline are two young adults that cross paths and are thrown into each other's lives. Madeline brings Victor into her "group" and exposes him to a world he could never have imagined. The members of this group are as different from each other as you could be, but yet are bonded by something "unseen". Victor has a mission to accomplish with his father's ashes and his "new" friends have agreed to help him. The more time Victor spends with Madeline, the more they become close and really get to know each other. There is lots of mystery surrounding this group and at one point, the law gets involved and begins to question both Victor and Madeline about their involvement with the "kids" and their leader named Baz. Both of these young adults need to decide if they will share the secrets they know or keep them forever.
What I Thought Of It: I enjoyed the beginning of the novel, but after a few chapters it began to lose me. I enjoyed the chapters where Vic and Madeline are being questioned by the detective. The chapters about the "Kids of Appetite" group would often confuse me and leave me wondering what the heck was going on. I continued the story, but to be honest found myself skimming and scanning during different parts of the plot. There were so many different things going on that left me "disconnected" from the book. I wasn't either in the right mood or I wasn't the target audience for this particular story.
Who Should Read It: I'm not sure how to answer this. I know the book is targeted for the middle-school and high-school reader. They will either get it more than I did or be more confused. Actually maybe they would be perfect for the "randomness" of the story. I do know there were many adult reader s that loved the story so maybe it just wasn't for me. The writing was extremely strong as he did with his first story. Happy Reading...
Rating: 3 STARS out of 5 Stars
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