A review by sc104906
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

2.0

Ozzie is the only person in the entire universe who remembers Tommy. Ozzie was never without Tommy, they grew up together and were each others' first everything. While friends and family think Ozzie is crazy and they ask him to seek medical attention, Ozzie will not give up on the most important person in his life. Tommy attempts to take a plane from Florida to Washington to search for Tommy, but is removed from the plane, which subsequently crashes for no reason. This mysterious circumstance clues Ozzie into the fact the the universe is shrinking, first by light years, then by kilometers, and so on. Ozzie becomes desperate with the idea of saving his world, while also going about his normal life. His best friend Lua is an awesome rock star with the potential for making it big, his older brother Warren is leaving for the army, and his parents are divorcing. Ozzie fights the inevitability of life. Things become more desperate when Ozzie's lab partner, Calvin, says he knows something about Tommy. However, this damaged boy leads Ozzie further down the rabbit hole.

This novel did not work for me. I felt that the best developed character in this novel was Lua. I didn't care about anyone else. I felt that there were certain realistic scenes, especially between Lua and Ozzie that worked beautifully, but the sci-fi aspect was not pulled off well. This book had potential without the irrelevant and cheesy sci-fi/narrowing universe aspect. Also as a note when recommending this book, the author does provide several sex scenes, so it may not be appropriate for younger teens.