Okay so at first the plot was really annoying and so predictable. Teens + Local Fair + Drugs = Disaster. Well After all there is gay people and drama. Dead things and people. Tarot cards. Future Missing Guy. A kidnap. And we all realize that People care the most about famous people. Not about nobodies. The end comes much to quick but it is really fun to read. ( )

Reviewed by Angie Fisher for TeensReadToo.com

It's a rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood, leaving old friends behind for a future beckoning with invitations of bigger and better things to come. There is a reason we outgrow friendships. Sometimes things are better left behind.

Peter wasn't even thinking when he got the phone call; after all, it was summer. If he would have been, he'd have stuck with Raymond and let the others go on without them without looking back. As it was, nostalgia got the better of him, and he agreed to meet one last time in the den, their former home-away-from-home, but only if Raymond could come, too. Besides, he and Nicole had more than just a past, didn't they?

Five former friends, some booze, and a combination of drugs (some by choice, some not), add up to one night of confusion, chaos, and death. What follows in classic Brooks fashion is a mystery that continues to weave into itself more intricately rather than toward a resolution. Oh yes, certain issues are resolved involving who murdered whom along the way, but it's hard to say when we find those details out that it even matters. Who we end up caring most about is not the rich, fake, do-anything-to-be-famous Stella, but the odd, loner Raymond who talks to his black rabbit. Oh yeah, and it talks back to him.

Brooks is extraordinary at pulling us into his characters, leading us ever so slowly to answers, and then leaving much, though not all, left unsaid. If you are looking for a perfect ending, he's probably not your man. If you are looking to be challenged as a reader and not spoon-fed all the answers? Here's yet another of his works where you won't walk away being disappointed. ( )

Although this is billed as a story about one mysterious night in a long, hot summer, Brooks’ novel is much more than a “who-dunnit” or even a “why-dunnit”. From the opening pages he captures the world of teenagers everywhere, with their complex web of shifting relationships, vulnerability to each other and complete refusal to share their world in full with any adults.

"Plot"
After a slow start which follows the main character through the lead up to the big night, there is the hazily captured main event: the funfair. The chaotic atmosphere is captured perfectly as the teenagers stumble through the night, high on a heady mixture of drugs, booze and the teenager’s sense of sheer invulnerability. Like a kaleidoscope revolving, old friends meet and spin apart, some heading to destruction. The morning after is when the thriller aspect of the story begins and the novel really picks up pace: two teenagers are missing and the police appear to have decided on a disagreeable interpretation of events. Desperate to discover the truth and find his friend, the main character repeatedly (but believably) escapes the police and his parents to do his own sleuthing. Along the way he learns new information about old friends and encounters growing violence and danger. As the novel draws to a close, twists and turns abound but the whole truth appears to be out of reach.

From this summary, two important points should be clear. Firstly, this is not a suitable novel for very young teens, who may find the sexual content and repeated references to drug abuse disturbing. (This is not as patronising as it may sound: I discussed this book with the Berkshire Book Award shadowing group at my school, and many of them had found the bad language and other explicit content prevented them from enjoying the novel. One girl had refused to read any further than the opening chapters. Interestingly, many of them did still think it was a good book, although it made them so uncomfortable.)

Secondly, this is not a book for those who like to have everything neatly resolved. Brooks has said in interviews that he prefers to keep his books open-ended as it encourages people to keep thinking about the book; once the story is tied up, he thinks, you put the book out of your mind quickly and move on. Although I prefer closed endings myself, I think he is correct as I kept looking back at the earlier chapters for clues when I had finished! Overall, enough is resolved to allow you to feel that the story can close, but enough is left unanswered to make you keep wondering.

The pace is good and will keep you turning pages long after you should have turned out the lights! The sense of progress never lets up, even as Pete becomes increasingly exhausted by the after effects of that night…

"Characters"

First person narrator Pete Boland is drifting through an uneventful summer when he receives a phone call from Nicole, a girl who was clearly more than a friend once. In typical Brooks’ style, the reader never really uncovers the history of their previous relationship, or what they really felt for each other. In some ways, this is refreshing: who, when faced with a call from an old friend, really thinks through the whole history of their relationship? Or talks it all through with another friend? ‘Oh, you remember I told you about the time that we…’ Instead, we learn about Pete and Nic’s past and present relationship through their very believable dialogue and some sketchy, hastily pushed aside memories of Pete’s. Of course, for those readers who like to know everything to help them establish a feel for characters, this may be frustrating, but the first person narrative and Pete’s initially calm (almost depressed) approach to life allow you to live the story alongside him. The story remains firmly in Pete’s hands: other characters are seen through his eyes, to good effect. This is perhaps especially true of Raymond.
Raymond Daggett is introduced as the only friend Pete appears to be close to and, although he is never labelled with any disorder, it is clear that he is a very strange young man. He spends nights outside with his rabbit – Black Rabbit – talking to him. Perhaps more importantly, Black Rabbit talked back. His parents appear largely heartless and there are suggestions that they are abusive, or at least extremely neglectful of him. However, painted by Pete’s vision of him, Raymond appears childish and in need of protection. This is important when he comes under suspicion later in the novel as the reader is forced to try to evaluate the true nature of a character that they have only really seen from one perspective.

The other teens all pay crucial roles, but are less important to Pete, at least initially. Nicole and her twin brother Eric were once good friends of Pete’s, though he struggles now to remember why, and doesn’t seem to like Eric at all. This is also true of Pauly Gilpin, who comes across as potentially one of the saddest characters in the story. Brooks convincingly shows how friends who have drifted apart might struggle to reconnect. Pauly appears to be friends with Wes Campbell, the local bully who controls the Greenwell estate kids. Each character is convincingly drawn and their interactions gradually reveal the mystery of That Night.
Other characters are also important to the story, such as the fortune teller who insists that Raymond should go home, adding a slightly mystical feel to the novel. Again, additional characters are well realised and (apart from the ‘man with a moustache – who may be simply a hallucination – ) are vital to the plot.

"Atmosphere/setting"
Where Brooks excels is in creating a humid, fearful, tense atmosphere. His vivid descriptions create the summer of the story as a vivid backdrop, and when the Greenwell kids approach Pete they are described in a manner that makes them appear to be deadly threatening foes.

The geography of the estate is important to the novel, but it is revealing that there is no map included in the book. Unlike so many authors, Brooks feels no need of this tool; his setting is clearly mapped out by Pete’s descriptions as he sets up the story and, later, as he moves between each area.

The descriptions of the fairground and events afterwards often take on a surreal, hallucination-type quality as the characters were drunk, stoned and drugged. However, this quality in the novel is never clearly reduced to the effect of narcotics and the fortune teller’s apparent premonition adds to a slightly magical atmosphere which I think is enhanced by certain unresolved features at the close of the novel. This helps to make the novel compelling: will it transpire that mystical forces were at work?

"Conclusion"
Personally, I did not actually enjoy reading most of this book. I felt it reminded me of ‘Skins’, a TV drama that I choose not to watch. The characters seem stereotypically teenage: involved in drugs, drink and dope while indulging in casual sex.

However, I do think that it is likely to be a compelling read for most, provided they are aware of the content and do not demand a neatly resolved ending. ( )

Great read! The tension and suspense kept me reading on and i loved the mixture of mystery, adventure and a bit of romance. However I thought the ending was disappointing as it was quite blunt and left too many questions unanswered.
Lorna Layfield 10S

It is a long, hot summer between high school and the future. When old friends decide to reuite on a fateful evening their lives are forever changed. As Pete tries to make sense of the events that transpired in the den and carnival he learns dark secrets that ultimately endanger his life. ( )