Review: Starts out light and turns dark.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 18, 2012
Eighteen year old Jason Ramsey is a geek. He's cute but invisible, especially to the girl he's been crushing on for years - beautiful, popular, cheerleader Becky Johnson. Then one day he saves an old man from nearly getting run over by a truck. The strange old man is an oddball and decides that Jason should be rewarded for his act of courage and gives him an amulet but warns him to only try it on when he's alone in his room. Jason does just that and makes a startling discovery. The amulet renders him invisible (I could already see where this was going).This was a really odd story. The story starts out light with the sexual awakening of a young man, until he realizes the person he really wants to be with has been right in front of him all the time, then turns dark when Sam's life is in danger.Jason is the geek. No one really pays him any attention except Danny, the high school jock and man whore. Danny has had Jason's back for years. Despite Danny's penchant for bedding any girl who wants him, he has always stuck to the "bro code" - not to sleep with the girl his best buddy is in lust over - Becky. Danny comes across as a jerk, but does a 360 towards the end of the story. Donna has been in love with Danny ever since he grabbed her for a quickie during prom while his date was occupied. Underneath her tough exterior lurks a softie, and she turns out to be a true friend. Samantha is sweet and innocent, but I found myself feeling sorry for her throughout the story.The idea of a teenage boy with the ability to become invisible sounded like the cliche boy fantasy, and I found it odd that a guy would even consider wearing an amulet. Yes, the characters are all young, but what that didn't bother me. Real life isn't much different. I was most disturbed by Becky's scene, but only because I already hated her by then. Becky's reasons for her deceit were ridiculous and she should have paid some price for it in the end. The author did write Jason and Sam's ending beautifully though, and it was a stark contrast to all the previous scenes which was nice.2.5 stars for a) grossly misused amulet for purely selfish reasons (spying on intimate moments, helping Danny's future career), only to be covered up by making Jason a hero in the end and b) a lack of consequences for some characters. I see there is a sequel -Amulet 2. I don't think I can handle the angst, so I won't be in any hurry to read them anytime soon.