Audie and her friends are pretty much professional lab rats for the large majority of this story. During the beginning, I was kind of into it. Audie was homeless and desperate for money, and so were her friends, for one reason or another. And this pill testing scheme was pretty lucrative, and I guess it beats working in a crappy office? Though, in the crappy office, you probably don't have side effects from anything except boredom, so yeah.
Anyway, as you'd imagine, things don't go great for people who live this lifestyle. Audie wants to save some money to take her boyfriend on some epic vacation, and she is going to lab-rat the hell out of this facility to get all the money. Because seriously, don't worry about the people who will have to take these pills and are relying on the now cross-contaminated data you're providing, by all means, head to the beach! See, it is all so confusing. One minute no one seems to care about one another at all. They treat each other like basic acquaintances, have lots of drug-induced parties (because obviously they need more drugs), and basically I do not understand the point of their lives.
But I wanted to understand. So I was engaged on that front at least. I wanted to know all the answers to my burning questions. Questions like:
- Why isn't this shit regulated?
- Where are all the parents/guardians/caseworkers/adults of any kind?
- How are any of them still alive?
- Is going on vacation worth all the probable dying? How will Audie even make it to vacation?
- Why are you all taking more drugs for funsies?! No, stop it!
- No seriously, how is this happening!?
Did I get my answers? Yes. Am I still a bit confused? Kind of. Can I say anything else about this book? Nope.
Bottom Line: It's basically too hard to review here, guys. It is confusing and messed up, but I was definitely engaged and wanting to know the answers to everything, so it was hard to put down. And there are answers, which is good!