Exit Here.

May 21, 2007
In his debut outing, Myers delivers a relentlessly bleak take on the self-destructive lives of a group of teenagers. Nineteen-year-old Travis moves back in with his well-to-do parents and younger sister after a failed year of college in Arizona and a licentious trip to Hawaii on his parents' dime. Travis immediately falls back in with his crowd of friends, none of whom, in an escalating whirlwind of cocaine, sex and underage drinking, spend much time sober at all. If Travis's usage (which has instilled similar interests in his sister) is never directly sanctioned by their parents, then it's certainly overlooked. As Travis reconnects with old friends as well as an ex-girlfriend, it becomes apparent that he is avoiding events that occurred while he was in Hawaii and attempting to return his life to how it used to be. After an interminable litany of violent sex, abusive relationships, drunk driving and rampant coke use, lives begin to fall apart, though only Travis-gradually-begins to realize the futility of this self-perpetuating cycle. Myers's writing is heavy on detail-particularly when highlighting the clothing, music, movies and slang that accompany the kids' lifestyle-and at times apparel seems to serve as a proxy for personification. While Myers seems reluctant to pass judgment on his teenage characters, his novel carries an implicit indictment of the parents who allow their children to abase themselves to such a degree. Ages 16-up.

August 1, 2007
Gr 11 Up-Because he was so high, Travis doesn't know if he killed the girl he abandoned in a motel room during a trip to Hawaii, or if she died of an overdose. Before he ultimately turns himself in, he returns home to Minnesota, where excessive drugs and alcohol, lots of partying, and plenty of sex are the norm. Cliff, with whom he shared his memorable first times using cocaine, becomes a junkie and ends up killing a friend of Travis's sister in a repulsive concluding scene. Kyle, while high, kills his girlfriend in a car crash. Travis works hard to reconnect with his own old girlfriend, but after a steamy reunion, he backs off when he discovers that she had aborted Cliff's baby. There are many more interconnections that involve other friends, sordid and varied substance abuse in overwhelming quantities, random sexual situations, incompetent and enabling parents, guns, and drug dealing. From jail, Travis claims that he intends to wipe the slate clean after gaining "the truth." However, neither he nor the other characters are likable, despite fleeting attempts to provide some vision into their motives. It is impossible to disregard the vile things that Travis had gotten away with, such as a revelation that he and Cliff once took turns raping a girl at a party. The language is graphic and gritty, and the writing is adequate but static, anticipating no real future for Travis beyond jail. Hard-hitting, truthful stories about the pitfalls of drug use with well-drawn characters include Melvin Burgess's "Smack" (Holt, 1998) and Ellen Hopkins's "Crank" (S & S, 2004)."Diane P. Tuccillo, formerly at City of Mesa Library, AZ"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 18, 2007
In his debut outing, Myers delivers a relentlessly bleak take on the self-destructive lives of a group of teenagers. Nineteen-year-old Travis moves back in with his well-to-do parents and younger sister after a failed year of college in Arizona and a licentious trip to Hawaii on his parents' dime. Travis immediately falls back in with his crowd of friends, none of whom, in an escalating whirlwind of cocaine, sex and underage drinking, spend much time sober at all. If Travis's usage (which has instilled similar interests in his sister) is never directly sanctioned by their parents, then it's certainly overlooked. As Travis reconnects with old friends as well as an ex-girlfriend, it becomes apparent that he is avoiding events that occurred while he was in Hawaii and attempting to return his life to how it used to be. After an interminable litany of violent sex, abusive relationships, drunk driving and rampant coke use, lives begin to fall apart, though only Travis-gradually-begins to realize the futility of this self-perpetuating cycle. Myers's writing is heavy on detail-particularly when highlighting the clothing, music, movies and slang that accompany the kids' lifestyle-and at times apparel seems to serve as a proxy for personification. While Myers seems reluctant to pass judgment on his teenage characters, his novel carries an implicit indictment of the parents who allow their children to abase themselves to such a degree. Ages 16-up.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.