#bookstgrammers
I remember reading this as a kid and thinking it was all-caps AMAZING. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I couldn’t put it down. I did notice a few more plot holes this time around, but Wanted holds up for the most part. One of the ways that I judge these 90s teen horror/thrillers is on whether or not they succeed at being the novel they are trying to be. By that metric, I think this one works. I thought the main character Alice was done really well; I understood who she was and why she made the choices she did. Were the scenarios that Alice found herself in plausible? Not especially. But the novel moved along fast enough that I didn’t really care. Some of the things that bugged me could have been shored by staging events differently, but nothing really took me out of the story. Caroline B. Cooney doesn’t waste the reader’s time getting to the good stuff, and I appreciate that about her. I didn’t love the ending and there were some serious flaws, but Wanted was a thoroughly entertaining read from start to finish. I’m finding that it’s hard to complain about that.
Score: 3
A full review with memes, spoilers, and snark can be found on my blog:
