Enchanting Review: Crash Into Me

CRASH INTO ME
ALBERT BORRIS
Contemporary YA
Simon Pulse
ISBN# 978-4-4169-8208-1
272 pages
$16.99
Hardcover – Available now

Rating: 3.5 Enchantments

Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae are practically strangers. They only have one thing in common: a desire to die. It’s how they all met online in the first place, to start a suicide club. All their previous attempts have failed, but this time, they won’t.

These four teens have formed a pact and made a plan. Together they will escape from home and embark on a cross-country road trip. They will visit the graves or sites of famous celebrity suicides, and at the end of their journey in Death Valley, they will each end their lives. At least that’s that plan. But as the teens spend more hours together, becoming closer with each secret they reveal, things start to get sidetracked, and several of the new friends start to doubt they can follow through with the promise they made—loyalty to the pact. And each must figure out for themselves if suicide is really the only option.

CRASH INTO ME is an extremely fascinating read from a psychological perspective. Told from soft-spoken Owen’s point-of-view, this story dives into the many various causes for teen depression and suicide, not limited to but including homosexuality and the feeling of inadequacy. It delves into the deepest, darkest thoughts of people who feel they have nothing left to live for in such a realistic manner, which is both interesting and scary. However, while this aspect of the book was believable, I was somewhat disappointed in the rest of the story. Precious little is given about each teen’s background; although what the reader does learn is probably what counts, I still would’ve liked to know each main character better. I was not able to really connect with any of the characters because of this, and subsequently, I couldn’t get into the story as much as I wanted to. I also didn’t think the story was as deep as it could’ve been; in fact, the ending to the story was pretty predictable in a feel-good sort of way, which ruined an opportunity for a more in depth discussion of life and death. Overall, CRASH INTO ME was a solid debut novel, but one that could’ve been much better.

CRASH INTO ME is Albert Borris’s first novel. He lives in New Jersey and can be visited online at www.albertborris.com

Rachael Stein
Enchanting Reviews
July 2009