Rebel Bully Geek Pariah by Erin Lange

The Blurb On The Back:

The rebel, the bully, the geek, the pariah.

These four were never destined to like each other. But they’re speeding down the motorway together. In a stolen police car. Running from the law …

Well, it’s one way to make friends …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

I picked this up because I really enjoyed Erin Lange’s previous YA novels BUTTER and DEAD ENDS and I was interested in the idea of a road trip playing out over one night. There are things that I enjoyed in this book – Sam is sensitively written – self-conscious about her scars and by turns disappointed in, angry at and loving to her mother (who is shown with all her flaws but who you are sure does love her daughter). Some of the best scenes in the book are where Sam is forced to confront how she is not as invisible at school as she thinks and the flashback scenes showing previous interactions with Boston, Andi and York are pithy and packed with emotional truth. Unfortunately Andi, York and Boston were (for me) thinly drawn to the point of being caricatures and ultimately the series of events drawing them together and driving the plot just don’t ring true, especially the ending where the sudden reveal of information was disappointing and Sam’s actions didn’t convince me. Ultimately it’s a novel that (for me) had some good moments but pulled its punches and didn’t make me believe in the story, although I’d definitely read what Lange writes next.

Thanks to Faber & Faber for the review copy of this book.