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lalawoman416 's review for:
Panic
by Lauren Oliver
A bit of a disappointment, really. Truly wanted to like it more. So the story is about a dead-end town Carp of 12000 residents. Each year, the high school seniors pay a dollar a day into pot - whether they like it or not. The day after graduation, graduated seniors are allowed to play in the game of Panic - a series of "games" intended to play to their greatest fears. The games last all summer and are prepared by 2 unnamed and unknown judges. At the end of the summer, the final joust is played which determines the winner. The winner receives the pot - minus incidentals for costs and payment to judges. This particular year, the pot is $67k.
So Heather is the main protagonist - and she's pretty annoying until about 2/3rds of the way in. Her best friends Nat and Bishop always seem a bit shady. Sure it's for the suspense, but you never even really get the sense that they're truly friends. Enter the odd-ball, Dodge. Dodge has his own reasons for playing the game and is thrust into this threesome quite artificially and, despite never having truly spoken to any of them all through high school, ends up being allies with them.
Overall, the book didn't adequately flush out the characters, had too many distractions, and didn't set the mood for each individual challenge. The overall book was good, but the details were lacking. It's a book that once read was good, but only after digesting the concept as a whole. Chapter by chapter it was quite tedious at times.
So Heather is the main protagonist - and she's pretty annoying until about 2/3rds of the way in. Her best friends Nat and Bishop always seem a bit shady. Sure it's for the suspense, but you never even really get the sense that they're truly friends. Enter the odd-ball, Dodge. Dodge has his own reasons for playing the game and is thrust into this threesome quite artificially and, despite never having truly spoken to any of them all through high school, ends up being allies with them.
Overall, the book didn't adequately flush out the characters, had too many distractions, and didn't set the mood for each individual challenge. The overall book was good, but the details were lacking. It's a book that once read was good, but only after digesting the concept as a whole. Chapter by chapter it was quite tedious at times.