Shelly's Book Blog

Neal Shusterman's latest book, Unwind, is on YALSA's 2008 Teens’ Top Ten Nominees list, so I wanted to read it. Since it was checked out, I decided to try another of Shusterman's books, Full Tilt. Wow! This book is powerful. A group of three teens go in the middle of the night to what they think is a private, invitation-only amusement park.
It turns into their worst nightmare. I'm not usually a horror fan, but this book is different, because the rides at this park are custom made from the psychological landscape of those riding them -- tapping into their worst fears and the demons from their past that they have have never been able to shake. The rides are all extremely dangerous, and the main character, Blake, soon sees that many previous riders never made it out. He discovers that he has to make it through seven rides before the park will let him go.
The reason he and his friends, Maggie and Russ, went to the partk, though, is that they want to save Blake's brother, Quinn. The story explores not only the lingering guilt Blake feels for having survived a school bus crash when he was seven years old, but also the complex relationship he has with his crazy, risk-taking brother.
I had a little trouble getting into this book, because the seven ride set-up seemed a bit too pat, but their were plenty of surprises later on to make it well worth the effort.