Accomplice: Review

Title: Accomplice
Author: Eireann Corrigan
Release Date: August 2010
Published By: Scholastic
Pages: 296
Goodreads Rating: 3.36 pages


Review: Finn and Chloe, like many high schoolers, feel the pressure to get into the best colleges. They have spotless records, hours of community service, and perfect grades, but so do many other candidates. So to set themselves apart from everyone else, they do the unthinkable - stage Chloe's abduction, and have Finn rescue her, right in front of a riveted nation. Except things start going wrong. Very wrong. And there's nothing Finn can do about it.

When I first read the summary for ACCOMPLICE, I thought it sounded interesting but a little weird. I was worried that it was just too unrealistic - after all, what normal people would do something like this? But as I read, I quickly realized that Finn and Chloe actually aren't normal, and I was able to understand their somewhat twisted motivations. Chloe especially was always a little odd, always proposing strange ideas, and Finn followed her lead.

As you can imagine, the characters were very complex. I didn't feel for either of them very well, but it was riveting to read about how - to put it plainly - messed up they were. Finn was the more relatable one, grasping at the naive illusion that their little ploy could work, and struggling with the guilt and fear of being the one on the "outside" with Chloe hiding in her grandma's basement. It was hard for her to see everyone else so upset and afraid, and to be interviewed and talk with news stations.

Chloe was a fascinating character. Of course I didn't like her, but it was intriguing in a way to read about how twisted she was, especially as she spent so much time isolated. The crazy ideas she came up with to deal with the way everything was going wrong were frightening and added quite a lot of suspense to the story. During this, Finn started to recognize more clearly than before that there was just something not right with Chloe.

Overall, this was an intriguing character study with a surprisingly believable plot. ACCOMPLICE was a suspenseful read with plot twists that literally took my breath away. The themes explored were riveting and complex, dealing with truth, betrayal, and trust, so different from many of the YA books I've read. Don't be turned off by the mixed reviews or seemingly unrealistic plot line. If you're a fan of psychological suspense, then this book is definitely for you.