The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell



Description:


James was the guy no one noticed — just another fifteen-year-old in a small town. So when he gets into an academy for gifted students, he decides to leave his boring past behind. In a boarding school full of nerds and geeks, being cool is easy. All it takes is a few harmless pranks to invent a new James: fighter, rebel, punk. Everyone’s impressed, except for the beautiful "Ice Queen" Ellie Frost and the mysterious ghost44, an IM presence who sees through his new identity. But James is riding high, playing pranks and hooking up with luscious Jessica Keen. There’s just one thing awry: he’s starting to have vivid dreams of being a demon-hunting warrior, a thrill that is spilling over into dangerous and self-destructive acts while he’s awake. As he’s drawn deeper into his real-life lies and his dream-world conquests, James begins to wonder: What’s the price for being the coolest guy around?


Epic Wins:

• The message: That sometime we are our own worst enemy and that we have choices to make in life that are ours alone.
• Like I said with It Started with a Dare, lying sucks! James has to lie and twist the truth till he doesn’t know who he is and has to find himself; he does this through his dreams.
• James: When he wasn’t lying he was pretty funny, made me laugh a lot.
• All the crazy pranks that him and his roommate (Dickie, a guy who speaks in a British accent and loves to laugh) play on people or performed for people.
• Ghost44: I knew it was her! The whole time I knew it! To know exactly who she is you’ll have to read. She was my favorite.
• His hair-brain parents left a few laughs. I like how he called his mother moms because of her multiple personalities. :)

Epic Fails:

• Ellie: She had an attitude like no other but I suppose that is where she got the nick name ‘Ice Queen’.
• Drinking, never a good thing when mixed with hypothermia.
• Lying, not a big fan of the constant tales he comes up with but I respect it, it had to be done.
• Sex: I’m actually really frustrated that this came up; I was on a streak of clean lit. Oh well!
• How he treated poor Jess! She was probably mess up mentally when he was done with her. (of course she is just a character in a book so why I care is beyond me)

Overall:


Like a work of art, sometimes you don’t like the look but you respect the message (like a urinal recycled as a fountain, it's weird but you get the message.-don't ask I had an art teacher and well it came up). That makes it mean more to you. After this and It started with a Dare, I think I won’t ever lie again even little white lies! So go find out who ghost44 is already!


just sayin,
-Kare