Expelled

by James Patterson

[Leah]

Last year I read my first ever James Patterson novel - Crazy House. It was an interesting read with a great concept and I hold out hope there will be a sequel because it definitely lent itself to one. So when I spotted another Patterson book on my local library’s website, I requested it,mostly because Expelled sounded a lot like One Of Us Is Lying, one of my favourite reads last year and I was intrigued to see how Patterson pulled it off.

To be completely honest, Expelled is your run of the mill teen book. Four kids get Expelled, and our narrator Theo is one of them and he’s determined to prove his innocence - he knows he didn’t do it, but his school have a new zero tolerance policy and he doesn’t even get the chance to defend himself before he’s Expelled, three weeks before the summer break. For some bizarre reason, there is a girl on the front cover of the book despite the male narrator and honestly? This book was just meh for me. One Of Us Is Lying is miles better - character wise, plot wise, just overall. Expelled just didn’t seem believable - you may have a zero tolerance policy but you must surely also have 100% solid proof before you expel someone because lawsuits. It was just daft.

I liked Theo - although is obsession with Sasha bordered on stalker-like behaviour, especially since they don’t know each other prior to them both being Expelled. He is literally obsessed with her, worrying at least once a chapter about how she is and it was overkill. I think it was supposed to be romantic but it just came across creepy and weird. Really, the only concept I liked in the book was the whole making a movie thing, to try and prove their innocence. The rest I didn’t care a bit for.

I think one of my main issues with Patterson books is that he wants you to keep turning the pages, so his chapters are short and snappy but there’s no substance, you don’t feel like you know the characters or their motivations and so it all just ends up seeming rushed. Within the last 20 pages there were two fairly serious allegations and I was like really? That was the motivation behind the picture that started it all? That’s why Sasha was the way she was? I’m not demeaning her experience, it just felt like a cheap plot device. To just throw it in there with five pages to go is not tackling an issue, that’s just going for shock value and it left a pretty sour taste in my mouth, truth be told.

Expelled just wasn’t for me. If you want an actual Breakfast-Club like experience pick up One Of Us Is Lying. It has everything this book lacks and then some and there’s no end plot twists that just read like shock value. This was just 250 pages of not very much at only redeeming quality was Jude and even then, he got pushed aside in favour of Sasha. *eyeroll*