Inexcusable -- a review by Hope Austin

Inexcusable

by Chris Lynch

*** stars

Keir Sarafian wants you to know that he’s a good guy. He comes from a good family, is a star football player and would never hurt anyone, especially not his childhood friend and longtime crush Gigi Boudakian. But, if all that’s true, why is Gigi screaming at Keir about how she said no?

Inexcusable is an incredibly brutal story about a guy who deludes himself (and the people who enable him) to the point where he tries to rationalize his more heinous misdeeds. He’s a good boy. He didn’t mean any harm. He was only following orders. He was just having fun. She could’ve said “no”. As you read, Keir’s mantra of “the way it looks is not the way it is” becomes eerily ironic.

Personally, I found this book hard to get through. Not because of the writing, (because it’s pretty easy to read) but because of the subject matter. Inexcusable is essentially a rape story told from the point of view of the rapist. It’s not just unsettling; it’s downright creepy. Nevertheless, it’s a story that needs to be told. Lynch writes so the reader can easily mistake rape for seduction, and that’s not a mistake. It’s meant to show just how blurred the lines can get if one just believes he’s a good person. All in all, the book should help you re-evaluate your crushes and obsessions. Are they really healthy or are you just lying to yourself?

Lockdown -- a review by George Morejon

Lockdown - Escape from Furnace

by Alexander Gordon Smith

**** stars

Lockdown takes place in an underground prison located in England. In this future, England has changed for the worse since the "Summer of Slaughter", and event where local youth gangs all went on murderous rampages. This changed the English view of youth crimes to a zero-tolerance policy for any crime. And when kids break this rule, they are sent to Furnace.

Furnace is a giant underground jail made to keep all the juvenile kids who break the law. Imprisonment there is taken to extremes, with the public knowing little about it, besides the fact that its for-life sentences are the hardest in the world.

Something is odd about this jail though when Alex is sent there for killing his best friend, Toby, while robbing a house, which he swears he didn't do it. The court sentences him to life in Furnace. The jail is even more terrifying in person, and going down is even worse. The first thing he does is upsetting the leader of the Skulls (the local gang). His cellmate Donovan, a long time inmate of 5 years, helps teach him the ropes of Furnace: get back to your cell when the sirens go off, avoid fights, stay out of the way, know your place. But Alex isn't a very good listener, getting into a fight with some skulls for beating someone and not making it back to his cell in time. His narrow escape from a mutant dog and watching it kill the kid he was fighting with teaches him a lesson: he has to escape. While on labour duty one day, he gets an idea for escaping through one of the boarded-up, caved-in tunnels. He needs a plan of escape though, and how can you really escape from a place that's ten kilometres underground?

Maybe it's just me, but this is another quick read. It kept me on edge through the whole book, with unexpected turns and surprises. It's the first book in the Escape from Furnace series, the second being Solitary, which came out this year (ed note: December 2010 release). The ending is kind of a cliff-hanger that sets up for the next book, but as a stand alone read, it'd be a bit disappointing.

Reality Check -- a review by Bryce Foster

Reality Check

by Peter Abrahams

*** stars

This is a story about a 16-year-old teenage boy who has it all. He’s dating one of the hottest girls in his school. He has a phenomenal talent in the game of football. He has a good paying job. Everything seems to be going well for him. The setting takes place in a small town in Colorado, it also takes place in Vermont. Cody, the main character lives with his widowed father in an apartment above a bar. He is described as middle class while his girlfriend Clea comes from a rich family with controlling parents.

The turning point of the novel was when Cody tore his ACL in his first football game and ended his career. From there things got worse. They say things come in three’s. Well, in this story that theory is true. He loses his talent in football, he drops out of high school, and after Clea’s father found them alone together he lost her too. Cody’s girlfriend Clea got sent to boarding school. As he drops out of high school, he goes straight to work and one day finds out that there was a missing girl in Vermont in the news. He immediately packs his bags and heads to Vermont to look for his love. The only guide Cody has is a letter. He receives this letter right before her disappearance. This book is definitely categorized as a mystery or thriller novel that gets you on your toes. I enjoyed reading this book because of the mystery that takes place with the girlfriend. I disliked the novel because I thought the content was depressing. I thought that the main character didn’t have much maturity for his age. I don’t understand his thought process of dropping out of school and giving up in his football career. I will give him props for following his heart and searching for his love, but the rest of his decisions weren’t that wise. Although in my opinion this novel wasn't that great, Reality Check won the 2010 Edgar Award in the Young Adult category.

Evermore: The Immortals -- a review by Aspen Gates

Evermore

By Alyson Noel

*** stars

Ever was a girl who had the most perfect life. She was popular, she was spoiled to death by her dad, had the hot boyfriend and of course her best friend and annoying little sister. However, all that changes when Ever and her family end up in a deadly crash killing all of them except Ever doesn't cross over with her family. Instead all she can remember after waking up in the hospital is being in a meadow and looking into a pair of eyes, but after that absolutely nothing. Now Ever has moved in with her Aunt in sunny California and has surprisingly made two best friends, but her life has forever changed because she is not her self anymore. Now Ever has a special ability to read people's life and see their auras by a single touch. When Ever thought her life was pretty much over, she meets hot and sexy looking Damen and falls head over heels in love with him, but when she finds out the truth of what he really is, can she cope with that and the fact that he might have had something to do with her family's death?

I had found that this first book of the series wasn't quite that interesting. I mean some things were really good and left you wanting to continue reading, but there were times when I just wanted to put the book down. So I gave it three stars and hopefully the second book, Blue Moon, will be much more engaging.

By Aspen Gates