Review: Full Tilt

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars 

Full Tilt is an interesting book. At first glance it looks like a typical Goosebumps-style young adult novel about teenagers being sucked into a paranormal amusement park. Fortunately (although that could be cool), this book goes beyond that to explore its characters, or at least its protagonist, in more depth.

Blake is a sort of bland, generic overachiever with some secrets in his past when the book opens. Using the plotline of an amusement park run by a mysterious, otherworldly figure, Shusterman follows Blake through growth and a new understanding of himself and his strange, not-quite-there brother.

I thought this book felt a bit flat, particularly compared to Shusterman's other works, but I did enjoy it. The character of Blake's brother, Quinn, especially rang true for me since I knew several teenage boys very similar to him. At times the action was either too toned down and rattled off too quickly or dense and difficult to follow, but the book read quickly and I enjoyed it.

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