Pretty
Bad Things – CJ
Skuse
Pages: 265
Publisher: Chicken
House
Release Date: 1st
March 2010
Other Titles by this Author: Rockaholic
Twins in candy-store crime
spree...
I know what you’re thinking.
Tearaway teens. Yadda yadda. Maybe you’re right. But we’re all out of choices.
Last time we made headlines, Beau
and I were six-year-old ‘winder twins’. Little kids found alive in woods after
three days missing, looking for our dad.
We’ve just hit sixteen and life’s
not so wonderful. In fact, it sucks out loud. Still no Dad. Still lost. Still
looking.
But now we’ve got a clue where
Dad could be. Everything’s changed. It's a long shot, but we’ve got nothing to
lose. In the words of Homer Simpson, seize the donut.
Pretty Bad Things is
a quirky, funny and immensely entertaining.
Through
dual narration, we get to hear from both Paisley and Beau, and you’d be
hard-pushed to get two more opposing characters. Paisley is spiky, angry and
hard for most of the novel – she’s one of those characters that you probably
wouldn’t like in real life, but can’t help but love in a novel. She’s a little
insane really and I can’t imagine how Beau put up with her. Beau on the other
hand is very sweet and studious: the absolute reverse of Paisley. All the poor
boy wants to do is read and learn! But by the end of the novel, you can see
that the two are most definitely related...
Pretty Bad Things is
rather bizarre in its plot line (ergo, awesome): a crime spree in Las Vegas
sweet shops. I loved it. I want to visit so many of the shops that they
targeted – America is literally a sweet-lover’s dream. And Las Vegas sounds
amazing. The lights! The mad-cap hotel themes! The rides! Man, I want to go. It
would probably be better if I waited until I’m twenty-one, however; then I can
fully appreciate it.
I
have to admit that Paisley’s single-mindedness in searching for her dad was
impressive. For the entire time that her and Beau were in Vegas I was waiting
for Paisley’s illusions about her dad to be shattered. And wow was I worried
about how she’d take that.
I
really have no idea why I waited to read Pretty
bad Things for so long, but now I’m all set with Rockaholic and read more of CJ Skuse’s fantastic writing.
I
purchased a copy of this myself.
Sophie
I've been meaning to read this forever! Thank you for the great review, which only makes me tell myself off more for not having read it yet. :)
ReplyDeleteI've had this on my shelves for AGES and I really must get around to reading it! It sounds fun and strange..
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