Didn't finish it. I hate that. The thing is, Boy Toy (by the same author) is one of my all time favorite YA novels. Yet this one, and his other that takes place at the same high school, just really don't do it for me. Great writing, but I can't seem to connect with the characters. Boy Toy, however, is seriously great. ( )

After Kevin Ross saves Leah Muldoon from a serial killer known as The Surgeon everyone calls him a hero and wants a piece of him, the news media, the mayor, everybody. Kross, as he’s known by his friends in the Council of Fools, was on a national news program, the school had an assembly honoring him, and he received a $30,000 reward; and all because he happened to be at the library when Leah was attacked. He wonders what people would think if they knew the real reason he was in the right place at the right time. But he doesn’t dwell on that possibility. The mayor of Brookdale offers to sell Kross a cheap car from his dealership and the media makes an event out of it. The mayor places two ribbon magnets on the car supporting the troops and when Kevin’s father, who is a Gulf War veteran, asks him to remove them, someone from the school paper captures him throwing the ribbons in the garbage. The repercussions of this action drive the rest of the novel and raise questions for Kross about freedom of speech, supporting the troops. A whole new media circus begins and Kross wonders how he went from being the town’s hero to the town’s goat. He and the Council of Fools were always misfits but now Kross is virtually a pariah. ( )

Kevin is a teenager with a secret. Yes, he did save Leah from the Surgeon (a man who drugged, raped, and murdered four other girls) but jut because he saved her.. does that make him a hero? And worse, what if people discover the reason that he was there in that alley on the night that he saved her?

Barry Lyga once more tackles difficult questions in a young adult novel that can be enjoyed by just about anyone. The question of morals comes into play, but nowhere near as much as the questions of free speech, free thought, and right action. In the end, this is a book that transcends political parties and affiliations and instead digs deep into what it means to be an American.

Perhaps a bit surprisingly, this is a very timely book, and in my opinion, a very important one. Lyga certainly has a lot of good things to say. ( )

I didn't really like the main character or the premise and ideas portrayed in the story. ( )

I didn't really like the main character or the premise and ideas portrayed in the story. ( )