YA review: The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
43) The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
High school pretty boy Nolan is, at his core, a stereotypical rich-kid bully. He treats five high school classmates (all girls) badly enough that each wants to kill him. They've even talked in class about how they'd do it, so when Nolan dies at an epic party at his parent's house, the girls eventually become suspects. The girls had drugged Nolan at the party and wrote nasty messages on his face, took pictures, and posted them online. It's unclear to the reader, at least initially, whether any of the girls truly intended to kill Nolan. Subplots include an attractive young male teacher who takes pictures of teenage girls with their shirts off, one of the five girls falling for her boyfriend's brother, and one girl who is threatened by a poser who reveals a dark secret from the past. None of the characters move beyond stereotypical cutouts of what an older person far removed from high school might imagine high schoolers to be like. The plotting is trite and feels like any bad made-for-cable teen movie. The end leaves very little resolved, and most readers simply won't care enough to move on to the sequel. The novel might appeal to some YA fans, especially those of Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series. However, most active high school readers will see through the weak plot and thin characters. Not recommended.
High school pretty boy Nolan is, at his core, a stereotypical rich-kid bully. He treats five high school classmates (all girls) badly enough that each wants to kill him. They've even talked in class about how they'd do it, so when Nolan dies at an epic party at his parent's house, the girls eventually become suspects. The girls had drugged Nolan at the party and wrote nasty messages on his face, took pictures, and posted them online. It's unclear to the reader, at least initially, whether any of the girls truly intended to kill Nolan. Subplots include an attractive young male teacher who takes pictures of teenage girls with their shirts off, one of the five girls falling for her boyfriend's brother, and one girl who is threatened by a poser who reveals a dark secret from the past. None of the characters move beyond stereotypical cutouts of what an older person far removed from high school might imagine high schoolers to be like. The plotting is trite and feels like any bad made-for-cable teen movie. The end leaves very little resolved, and most readers simply won't care enough to move on to the sequel. The novel might appeal to some YA fans, especially those of Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series. However, most active high school readers will see through the weak plot and thin characters. Not recommended.
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