I love Blake as a narrator! He’s funny, yet introspective enough to stop and really think about what’s going on. Madigan’s characters are fleshed out in such a way that, though I didn’t really like some of them in the beginning, they really grew on me. The family dynamics explored, not only in Blake’s family but also in those of his girlfriend Shannon and his friend Marissa, show the varied ways we relate to family whether outsiders agree with us or not. I closed the book wishing I could know what happened next for Blake and company, because I cared about them all.
Reading a summary of this book, it could seem that it would be about how to throw off the judgments of other people and just be friends with whoever you want. And to some extent, it is. But after reading it, I think it’s mostly about feeling comfortable with who you are. Jessie struggles with becoming friends with the Dungeons and Dragons crew because she knows people see them as inferior and she doesn’t want to be put in that group with them. With a story like that, it could easily fall into the preachy camp, but it doesn’t. It’s funny, well-written, and extremely honest.
This book takes three things I love and combines them into one book: football, mysteries, boarding school. With a combination like that, I expected to love it, but, alas, I did not. The mystery aspect of the book was strong – which is good since that’s kind of the focus of the story – but Cody never really captured me as a main character. Of course I wanted him to solve the mystery so he could resolve some things with Clea, but the book ends so suddenly I don’t feel that I got that. The investigation into Clea’s disappearance is well-developed, but everything else felt lacking to me.
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