He’s given up. What can he do? Summer is here but he can’t spend his time having fun with friends for a of couple reasons.
First, he has Summer school. Yeah! Just what every graduating Senior thinks of doing over his last Summer break.
Second, what friends does he have? Rachel, Poe and, of course, Jocelyn have all left him in one-way or another. Iris is gone, his mom might as well be gone--as she falls deeper and deeper into her need for vodka—and his father never was there to begin with.
So why fight? “Keep low”, that is what Chris has been told. So he is. Keeping low. He is staying out of trouble, giving up, going with the flow. Until Lily walks into his life. Following the same routine of the previous two books Chris falls for the new high school beauty. Chasing Lily around Chris keeps out of trouble but when their relationship goes sour Chris has time to get himself into trouble. Learning of the town’s history, his ancestors and the people in the town, Chris once again finds himself in trouble. But with visions, relationship/family problems, and of course the mystery of Solitary Chris will learn more then he wanted to, yet feel utterly lost in the book Temptation.
First, he has Summer school. Yeah! Just what every graduating Senior thinks of doing over his last Summer break.
Second, what friends does he have? Rachel, Poe and, of course, Jocelyn have all left him in one-way or another. Iris is gone, his mom might as well be gone--as she falls deeper and deeper into her need for vodka—and his father never was there to begin with.
So why fight? “Keep low”, that is what Chris has been told. So he is. Keeping low. He is staying out of trouble, giving up, going with the flow. Until Lily walks into his life. Following the same routine of the previous two books Chris falls for the new high school beauty. Chasing Lily around Chris keeps out of trouble but when their relationship goes sour Chris has time to get himself into trouble. Learning of the town’s history, his ancestors and the people in the town, Chris once again finds himself in trouble. But with visions, relationship/family problems, and of course the mystery of Solitary Chris will learn more then he wanted to, yet feel utterly lost in the book Temptation.
I can’t decide if I like or hate Lily, Chris’s new girl friend. She toys with Chris and gives the most predictable plot yet in “The Solitary Tales” making this book perhaps the most disappointing so far. I was ready for another gripping, creepy, thrilling, adventure with Chris Buckley but was disappointed and surprised by the turn Thrasher took with this novel. It was the happiest story so far; lots of warm happy feeling moments compared to the last two books. I also feel the ‘temptation’ part of the book was not needed for a young adult book, it didn’t add to the plot in the long run. (I want to make clear with that statement, this book is perfectly PG but does hint at some things that are not G.)
Now the reader does learn why things are happening, and what makes Chris so special in Temptation. These few answers do help one to understand what has happened and is happening better but it also (like Travis Thrasher has done before, in an amazing way.) opens the door for even more, deeper, questions.
Thrasher ends Temptation well though, with a promise for a race against the clock ending for Chris I am looking forward to the last book in “The Solitary Tales”.
C+
