I heard the review on NPR, and was sold on the concept. What kind of shenanigans can a bunch of college kids get into where one of them ends up dead and another one is so scarred he never goes outdoors? I really wanted to find out more. But in reality, this book didn't do it for me. I guessed most of the twists early on. And maybe it was a British thing that I don't understand, but some of the dares that made the players quit didn't seem that bad.

For instance: the dare that made Jack quit. Frankly, Jolyon's dare of going to a football match and loudly and offensively rooting against the home team is a good way to get yourself killed, and seemed much worse than Jack's dare of buddying up to the insufferable gay guy that he really doesn't like. Jack wasn't really established as homophobic or anything so his response to that series of dares didn't make a lot of sense.

And the one that made Chad finally quit...go visit your parents?? That was a letdown. I mean, it sounds like the fight he had with his dad was pretty bad, but his mom really wanted to see him, and the dare wasn't that he had to apologize or beg for his dad's forgiveness, or stay for a week. Just that he had to drive a couple hours and visit them. It was that vs. being on the run for life and he wouldn't do it? That was anti-climatic.

Interesting premise, but needed better development. I'm not really sure why that NPR reviewer was so enthralled.

Also: if Dee wasn't in on Chad swiping her poetry book from Jolyon's apartment at the end, why was she still alive?