My Review

What I loved:

I couldn’t put down this story. The violence is quite high, but the gore is minimal, and the reader isn’t given much time to process it, much the same way that many YA stories have been written. (I’m looking at you Hunger Games.) The key is survival, and as a reader I’m rooting for Riley and Max the whole time.

The characters are wonderful. Kelley Armstrong weaves in mental illness in this book really well, embedding it into each character the way mental illness is embedded in our lives. Riley was once a happy outgoing teen who needs counselling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after witnessing the murder of a couple, and then living with the guilt that she survived. Complicating it is everyone calling her a hero for hiding their daughter. Survivor’s guilt is a tangible thing for Riley.

Max is wonderful. His mental illness and his attempts to fight it, and the struggle to be normal like he used to pre-diagnosis, is a breath of fresh air.

Without giving it away, what I love about this story is how much Kelley Armstrong voices the tropes that have hurt so many with mental illness, all while putting the characters through hell. Through Max we see real world bias against teens and adults with mental illness, the fear and loathing. And we root for them all the same. We also understand the complexities of these illnesses, and realize that each person with an illness is more complicated than the label of that illness.

We want the happy ending, knowing especially with teenagers with mental health issues, that we are getting one that’s happy for now. 

What I didn’t love:

The mental health facilities, both in hospital and where they were held hostage.

I mean, I get that Kelley Armstrong needed a setting like this, a labyrinth of places for the characters to hide so they’re hunted. It amps up the tension.

And this is likely my architecture background talking, especially given that I’ve been designing mental health facilities since 2005, but I just didn’t buy that a therapist team would ever recommend a group counselling session in a factory building under construction in a city.

Ever.

Yes it serves both the plot and the story. But any research in current mental health facilities will tell you that “a windowless space” is the least healing space ever. It wouldn’t focus the teens on their healing without distraction. It would aggravate them and set them off. In healthcare design, views to nature are called “positive distraction.”

I would probably have believed it more if they were simply in a city with no outdoor space.

The hospital security was another thing altogether. Again, knowing healthcare facilities and the careful balance that they place on security and welcome, for me, it was a big nope.

Did it take away my enjoyment of the story? Nope. I had to suspend a few moments of disbelief, but that’s it. The story isn’t for me. It’s a YA story. So if the reader has experience with mental health, or a loved one who has been hospitalized, they might get pulled out of the story too.

I would still recommend it.

My Analysis

POV:

Riley Vasquez, 1^st person; Max Cross, Close 3^rd.

Genre:

External: Thriller – Psychological / Person in Jeopardy; Action-Dual: Hunted.
Global Values: Life and death / Damnation
Core Emotion: Excitement

Internal: Worldview – Maturation
Global Values: Naïveté /Wisdom
Core Value: Relief (not quite satisfaction)

Controlling idea: When we express our inner gifts and face our fears, we survive.

Other:

Violence: High
Gore: low.
Romance: kissing only 
Series: Stand-alone 
Reality Clover: Real, Present Day

Reference:

Website: www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Twitter: Tweets by KelleyArmstrong
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KelleyArmstrongAuthor