A review by scythefranz
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

3.0

"To be completely helpless in the face of life-- powerless to do a single thing-- that's what I'd always feared more than anything."

3.5

Neal Shusterman is my favorite author and I promised myself I will read all his books (even his earlier novels) as long as I can find a copy. Fult Tilt is one of his earlier novels and my 12th book of him.

The time I started the book and it was in an amusement park and this is a suspense-thriller of sort, I thought this will be something like Final Destination, but it wasn't. Anyway, it's okay since after finishing the novel I was satisfied on what this book made me feel.

Basically, this is a bizarre, life-or-death story of Blake and his struggles to face his fears and deepest, horrible secrets in a carnival. Yep, a twisted carnival owned by a bewitched, peculiar girl named Cassandra. The thing is, Blake and his friends should do 7 rides before dawn or they will be stucked and be part of the carnival forever.

Blake is an interesting character. He is not fearless, but he can do things he need to do out of fear. The thing is, there is something about him why Cassandra chose him to give an invitation to her carnival. And that's for you to find out.

Full Tilt is a well-paced, page-turner book that creeped me out, psychologically. This book made me feel the feeling of guilt, desperation and brotherly love. It showed that fears are there to hinder you but there is always a way out out of these fears. A compelling story of breath-taking adventure in a bizarre world of your own thoughts and fears designed to succumb you forever.

Nonetheless, Cassandra's character hasn't been delved into but I thought sometimes, something needs to remain as a mystery.