OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile
Author and narrator Paul Griffin captures the intensity of what happens when Matt and his best friend, John, wind up trapped on a tiny boat in the ocean with three other teens they’ve just met. Matt is from the Bronx, and Griffin appropriately lets his slightly tough first-person persona infuse the performance. As the maritime situation worsens, Griffin makes palpable the increasing tension between Matt and John, as well as dramatizes the culture divide between them and the three rich kids they followed out onto the water. Even though Griffin adds some accents to the voices, it’s sometimes impossible to tell who’s speaking. Despite that slight confusion, though, listeners will be riveted by edge-of-your-seat storytelling. A.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 05/04/2015
In a terrifying survival story in which past traumas are as visceral and intense as present circumstances, five teenagers try to stay alive after becoming lost off the Atlantic coast. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood in Queens, friends Matt and John are working in Montauk, N.Y., for the summer when they meet 17-year-old Driana Gonzaga, her Brazilian cousin Estefania, and Estefania’s boyfriend, João. After Estefania attempts some daring night surfing, the other teenagers attempt to rescue her in a small, ill-equipped boat; engine problems soon strand them. Griffin (Burning Blue) gives his characters just enough know-how to keep them from being completely helpless, but the situation is clearly beyond their control. Police emails and other communications provide brief respites from the rapidly degrading situation on the boat. Profound moments such as when Matt realizes that the “cruel” sun “was just being what it was. A mindless, merciless star that would shine on whatever got in its way” will haunt readers as much as the lethal injuries, worsening weather, class friction, and psychological instability the teenagers face. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (July)
From the Publisher
"In a terrifying survival story in which past traumas are as visceral and intense as present circumstances, five teenagers try to stay alive after becoming lost off the Atlantic coast... Profound moments such as when Matt realizes that the “cruel” sun “was just being what it was. A mindless, merciless star that would shine on whatever got in its way” will haunt readers as much as the lethal injuries, worsening weather, class friction, and psychological instability the teenagers face." — Booklist starred review
School Library Journal
04/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—Matt and his childhood friend John have summer jobs in the Hamptons before their last year of high school. The summer has gone well, and there are only a few weeks left before school starts again. Matt will return to the selective public school in Manhattan that he has attended since freshman year, and John to the neighborhood public school. Matt hopes to get into Yale, where he wants to major in forestry so he can man a solitary outpost away from people. John wants to get his certification as an electrician like his father. Hoping to make some extra money on their day off, the boys take a couple coolers and fill them with sodas and ice cream bars and head to the beach. They meet Driana, João, and Estefania. What should have been a brief and anonymous exchange alters their lives when Driana invites them to a party she's having. Estefania decides to go out surfing at midnight and thus begins a tragic series of events. Clues about the characters are revealed in a leisurely manner, leaving readers to guess about their true intentions. This contrasts with the rapidity in which the plot progresses, evidenced by Matt's immediate willingness to help people he met only a short time before. VERDICT Recommend to teens who enjoyed Matt de la Peña's The Living (Delacorte, 2013) and other survival stories.—Suanne B. Roush, formerly at Osceola High School, Seminole, FL
OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile
Author and narrator Paul Griffin captures the intensity of what happens when Matt and his best friend, John, wind up trapped on a tiny boat in the ocean with three other teens they’ve just met. Matt is from the Bronx, and Griffin appropriately lets his slightly tough first-person persona infuse the performance. As the maritime situation worsens, Griffin makes palpable the increasing tension between Matt and John, as well as dramatizes the culture divide between them and the three rich kids they followed out onto the water. Even though Griffin adds some accents to the voices, it’s sometimes impossible to tell who’s speaking. Despite that slight confusion, though, listeners will be riveted by edge-of-your-seat storytelling. A.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-03-25
Two buddies who have been through trauma together before find themselves with three relative strangers out on the open Atlantic, where survival becomes extremely uncertain. Matt and John work at a state park, where they meet the three, and are working-class in a way that the others don't understand. Stolid John is mechanically minded and still suffers from the death of his father years earlier. Matt is determined to get into Yale and puts his energy toward saving and studying with that goal in mind. Dark, dreadlocked Driana is visiting the park with her cousin Estefania and Stef's boyfriend, João. The latter two are from Rio de Janiero and have a carefree aura of entitlement—though Stef was adopted from the favelas by Driana's uncle after her mother was gunned down in front of her. Griffin explores their individual psychologies and interactions with nuance. Stef has a reckless streak, and her sudden jaunt on a windsurfer leads the others into danger as they go to her aid with a small, open boat. With no radio or gear for the open sea, the craft offers little help for survival as hours, then days pass, the pressures mounting on each in ways designed to test their limits. While the danger is real, the book's at its most riveting as the characters interact and implode. This fast-paced survival adventure makes an excellent crucible for Griffin's examination of class. (Adventure. 12-16)
