Born Scared

August 1, 2018
Elliot, who suffers from severe anxiety, must face his fear of the outside world when his mother goes missing in a Christmas Eve snowstorm in Yorkshire.Suspensefully told from multiple perspectives, and jumping back and forth in the narrative timeline, the text gradually reveals the seemingly innocent circumstances that lead to the day's disturbing events. A mix-up with Elliot's medication requires his mother to leave him home alone after Elliot's aunt, who'd agreed to bring the correct pills from the pharmacy, is conspicuously late and unreachable by phone. His harrowing journey into the snowstorm toward his aunt's house--the last place his mother was headed--is interwoven with a bank robbery by two men in Santa costumes. Elliot's specific condition is never explicitly named, but his naïve narration, which includes descriptions of prior doctor's appointments and imagined conversations with his twin sister, who died an hour after being born, provides readers with additional context. However, this open-ended approach to portraying mental illness risks pathologizing Elliot further as he struggles to navigate encounters with other people en route to his aunt's house. Elliot and his mother are white.At times frustratingly elliptical, the narrative inexorably draws characters toward one another--and into a surprising, explosive climax. (Psychological thriller. 12-18)

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August 20, 2018
In this gripping yet inconsistent thriller, a young man living with a severe anxiety disorder is forced out of his comfort zone when a mix-up with his medication on Christmas Eve disrupts his carefully controlled life. Afraid of almost everything and haunted by the death of his twin sister at birth, 13-year-old Elliot usually remains, by his preference, in the safety of his room, incapable of coping with the outside world even at the best of times. But when the pharmacy sends home the wrong medication, his mother ventures out into a snowstorm to remedy the problem and never returns. Desperate to find out what happened, Elliot goes after her, only to be plunged into a nightmarish world of both terror-based hallucinations and paranoia and a real-world robbery turned hostage situation that requires Elliot to tap into his darkest impulses in order to survive. The inclusion of two Santa-disguised robbers and a bank manager on a drug-fueled bender lend this story an unexpectedly off-kilter, almost comedic tone that feels at odds with Elliot’s trauma and internalized struggle. But Brooks (Five Hundred Miles) creates a compelling character in Elliot and successfully depicts a dangerous environment filtered through a profound mental illness. Ages 12–up. Agency: William Morris Agency.

September 1, 2018

Gr 7-10-Elliot's list of phobias is so exhaustive, he describes himself as being "chronically afraid of almost everything." He never leaves the house and uses medication to tame his fears, but a mix-up with his prescription sends his mother out into a snowstorm to restock. She gets caught up in a plot and held hostage by some criminal types in Santa suits, and when she doesn't return, Elliot faces the unknown to look for her. His fears quickly overwhelm him, leading to emotional depletion and a self-described feeling of being dead, which somehow allows him to make calculated decisions at the story's climax. Ellamay, Elliot's twin sister who died at birth, provides guidance as her voice comes and goes at convenient moments. It's not clear if Ellamay is intended as an element of magical realism or as a manifestation of psychosis, but her character succeeds as neither. The points of view are split between Elliot, the bad Santas, and a hapless bank manager who spends most of his portion of the novel driving under the influence of drugs. While the split narrative is useful to tie the plot together, too much time is spent on adult characters, whose stories may be less relatable to youth. Elliot's fears are endlessly mentioned in the narrative, but the way he feels and experiences them is never adequately explored. Disturbingly, Elliot's mother and their trusted family doctor don't seek psychological help for him beyond medication and isolation. VERDICT Not recommended.-Alex Graves, Manchester City Library, NH

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