A Million Times Goodnight

May 1, 2016
Hadley spends the night of her life facing two different but equally dangerous paths.It's the night of the big spring-break party, and 17-year-old Hadley and her two best friends "borrow" Hadley's boyfriend's BMW without permission to revisit the scene of their friend Penny's death, exactly one year before. In retaliation, her boyfriend, Ben, posts a naked picture of Hadley on Facebook and won't take it down until Hadley returns his car. Hadley must decide: go back to the party and make Ben take down the picture or take a road trip far away from Oak Grove, Ohio, the mostly white suburb where she and her friends live. Subsequent chapters alternate between the fallout from Hadley's return to the party to confront Ben and revealing what would happen if she takes the road trip instead. Both paths put Hadley and her friends in serious danger as they uncover terrible truths about what really happened to Penny. The novel is a fast-paced thriller with plot twists, intrigue, and revelations practically on every page. While the story offers a rekindled romance and wild adventure, its characters are disappointingly flat. Hadley has moxie, but otherwise she and her friends are fairly cookie-cutter teens.Clever, taut storytelling helps to overcome bland characterization. (Thriller. 13-17)

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June 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-Seventeen-year-old Hadley steals her boyfriend Ben's car and leaves a party to take a ride with her two best friends. In retaliation, Ben posts a naked photo of Hadley to Facebook. Hadley and her friends run into Josh, her old flame who has become a social pariah since he killed a girl with his car last year. Together, the four teens have to decide whether to drive back to the party and confront Ben, or hit the road and get as far from home as possible. The narrative splits at this point, with alternating chapters telling a similar story: in one, Hadley and Josh go on a road trip, and in the other, all four teens head back to the party. By making this choice, the author gets a chance to pack double the action into a single book. This is a wild ride, featuring stolen cars, drugs, and guns. It also deals with rape, pornography rings, and underage drinking. Yet all these heavy topics are treated as inconveniences, things for the characters to worry about briefly before making revenge plans. The police are called at the very last minute, after characters, plot, and scheme complicate things. The tone is sassy and not remotely believable. There are expository monologues that sometimes stop the pacing in its tracks. VERDICT Readers who are looking for a fast-paced thriller with a touch of romance may enjoy this title. Skip otherwise.-Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

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