The Hit | Melvin Burgess | Chicken House Publishing Stand Alone | 2.5 Stars | 303 pages | Young Adult Dystopia
Release Date: April 4th, 2013
Goodreads
Goodreads Synopsis:
“A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It’s the ultimate high. At the ultimate price.
Adam is tempted. Life is rubbish, his girlfriend’s over him, his brother’s gone. So what’s he got to lose? Everything, as it turns out. It’s up to his girlfriend, Lizzie, to show him…”
Review:
I am not a huge fan of kicking off reviews on a negative point, but the fact of the matter is that this books is probably my least favourite read of 2014. This is not saying too much considering that all of my books previous to this one are not below 4 stars, but still, I had a hollow feeling of regret upon finishing.
As always, negatives out of the way first. This novel was an endless string of disappointment and missed opportunities for me. The possibilities were endless when it came down to what this could be. This book is essentially about suicide. A drug that youth are taking that is killing them after a week of the ultimate high is becoming more and more used and to be honest, I never really found out why. I think world building was non-existent. A fabulous and intriguing concept with poor execution.
The book focused on the characters journey more than the actual society. This was a huge mistake for me.
I had a certain level of empathy when it came to the characters. Again, there was not much development on their part. I basically did not want them to die, which is always a tribute to the author.
One positive element I found were the twists in the novel. I genuinely wanted to see where it went and how it finished. Although this novel was flawed, there was never a point where I didn’t want to read it.
If you want a quick read for entertainment value, this is the book for you. It was fast paced and the pacing was on point. I have heard amazing things about the rest of his books so I will definitely be checking them out.
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