Hi, I’m Amanda and this is called “catching up on reviewing books I read months ago but never found time to review.” Come join me!
The first one is Panic by Lauren Oliver, you may remember her as the author of the Delirium series (click the link to see all our tagged posts.) Even though I wasn’t very happy with how that series ended, I’m still a big fan of Oliver’s writing style and so when I saw that she had a new contemporary stand-alone coming out you best believe I pre-ordered that quick!
Here is the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.
Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.
Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.
For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.
Okay so the thing about this book is that it is totally up my alley because of its subject matter/storyline but it’s one of my weirder interests so it’s hard for me to recommend it without asking if you’re a fan of this really weird subgenre too: intense 90s-00s thriller plot lines.
Think that subgenre/interest doesn’t make sense? Just think about some of the most classic 90s thrillers: Cry Wolf, The Skulls, The Hole, etc. Intense plot lines that are somehow kind of shallow at the same time? I don’t know how else to describe it but I LOVE THESE TYPES OF STORIES. Reading Panic felt like watching a movie that I would love.
Although I had a pretty good high school experience, I wasn’t especially cool and I didn’t participate in many high school “rite of passage” type things so that part of this book really appealed to me.
Calling it “shallow” seems mean but I truly don’t mean it as a negative. There is still a way to do these types of stories well even if they aren’t life-changing. And Lauren Oliver is a great writer, so she definitely did it well. 4/5 stars for this adventure story that grows its characters through its twists and turns.
You can buy Panic on Amazon here.
