Review: Suspense Leaves You in Suspense
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2011
I made a discovery about myself while reading Suspense. I takes me a while to get into dystopian novels. It has nothing to do with the writing or the characters. It just takes me a while to wrap my mind around these unique, futuristic worlds. That being said, once I got into Suspense, I really liked it.The book centers around Spencer Nye and her friends. The world Letts created for Suspense is perfect at first glance. It doesn't take long to discover though that nothing is perfect. Spencer lives in a world where everyone is equal and no one wants for anything. As great as it sounds, she seems to be the only one who realizes that there is no reward in having everything handed to you. Hmm... seems that there is a lesson to be learned there somewhere. I'm not saying that Spencer is above reproach and is the perfect hero. She has faults just like everyone else. One of her biggest at times seems to be how little she thinks of herself. Hopefully as the series continues she'll get over some of that. She wasn't in a really happy place during most of the book, even when she should have been.Suspense is a YA novel, but it is definitely geared toward older teens. There is a fair amount of violence along with sexual themes. One scene, well, you'll know what I'm referring to when you get to it. :)There were times in Suspense that I had a hard time adjusting to the reality that the characters lived in. I think it was because everything was so centered around technology that it was almost scary. I've often heard people now talk about how they couldn't survive without their computers, cell phones and other gadgets. Think about how hard it would be if you entire existence depended on the technology you were surrounded by. That's exactly what Letts gives you a taste of and it's a scary proposition.The nice thing about starting Suspense now is that Jason Letts' next installment in the Spencer Nye trilogy is coming out in the next few days. Since Suspense left us in, well, suspense.... it will be nice to be able to grab Expense without much delay.