A review by bookmindedmag
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

4.0

The first half of the book was EXCELLENT. Susan Choi writes with a clarity and intelligence that had me hooked. The characters, mostly teenagers at a performing arts school, are interesting and annoying. Basically true teens. They are full of lust, insecurities and yearning. The relationship between Sarah and David reminded me of all the crazy emotions I had when I was young and so in love. But under the relationship is something much more sinister but is never revealed until the second half of the novel, which confused me so much. The way Sarah and David’s story ends and Karen’s begins threw me completely off. I thought maybe I had skipped a page because for the next few paragraphs I had no idea what was going on. Once I did, then I was invested. But there were still so many questions I had.

I, however, was not surprised by Karen’s actions. I saw it coming and when it did I was beyond all in. But then the story changed once again, leaving me with so many damn questions by the end of the book I felt cheated. I’m not sure what Susan Choi was trying to accomplish but she left me feeling like I watched three movies with no clear endings.