The Suicide Club by Rhys Thomas

The Suicide Club by Rhys Thomas
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Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Harrowing novel about the effect a sinister newcomer has on a group of teens at his new school.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 400	Date: March 2010
Publisher: Black Swan
ISBN: 978-0552774970
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Craig Bartlett-Taylor's third attempt at killing himself is nearly successful – except when he announces in class that he's taken a whole bottle of pills, new boy Frederick Spaulding-Carter steps in and saves his life. Freddy attains instant celebrity as a hero, and our narrator Richard Harper is as impressed as anyone else.

But as he gets to know Freddy more, he starts to wonder whether his presence is a good thing, and events quickly spiral out of Richie's control. Richie has always thought himself slightly cursed by his continual imaginings of Worst Case Scenarios happening to those around him – and perhaps now, some of those Worst Case Scenarios are about to come true.

The build-up of events is handled really well by debut author Rhys Thomas. In many writers' hands, some of the teens' actions would have seemed completely unbelievable, but he successfully shows us how the characters' problems escalate as Freddy becomes more involved with the rest of them.

Richie's narration, from the opening Call me Ishmael. Apparently you have to have a good line to start a book so I stole that one from Moby Dick, which is a book about a whale I've never read. right the way through to the gripping conclusion, is the best part of the novel. Both the narration and some of the dialogue is very reminiscent of Dawson's Creek, rather than sounding particularly like most teens do, but Rhys Thomas gets away with it by actually drawing attention to this on several occasions, with Richie admitting they're talking like that semi-ironically. I also liked the characterisation of the rest of Richie's family, particularly his young brother Toby, and the way Richie gradually reveals details of how his life had already started unravelling before Freddy appeared at school.

The book's placed very firmly in the present, with lots of references to the music of Damien Rice and My Chemical Romance. This works really well, in my opinion, although I'll confess to being unsure how the references will hold up in the future – ten years from now, will many people remember MCR? Possibly... (as a big fan of the Black Parade album, I hope so!) but I'm not quite convinced.

It's also slightly hard to tell who the author is trying to appeal to, in many ways. While the music references and the age of the main characters definitely place it in the teen market, the subject matter means I'd be wary of recommending it to the lower end of the age group. For older and more mature teens, it's a definite recommendation, and I think that a lot of adults would also really enjoy it.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Further Reading: For more harrowing tales of high school life, I'd recommend Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. The former is aimed at teens but I'd still expect many adults to be impressed by it, while the second is aimed at adults but would definitely be thought-provoking for older and more mature teens.

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You can read more book reviews or buy The Suicide Club by Rhys Thomas at Amazon.com.

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