Review Detail

This has to be one of the best YA novels I’ve ever read. Although it’s an awful long time since I’ve been a teenager, I had instant identification with the protagonist, a desire to find out about her, and so, a need to read on. Tension kept increasing as the story developed, to explode into the final denouement. Believable characters and action, vivid description and completely age-appropriate ways of thought and behavior bring the story to life.
The novel conveys several important messages of morality and ethics, but never by preaching (even by one character to another), and never on the surface. Perhaps the most important is not to judge people on the basis of rumor. For example, one girl is introduced as “backseat Britney,” the girl who gives a good time to any boy. We find out that this reputation is false, being deliberately generated slander, and when we learn her history, compassion just has to replace judgment. Many other lessons, similarly well presented, make this an inspiring guide to behavior for youngsters, as I said, without seeming to be so. On the surface, it’s just an exciting read.
The story has a female protagonist, and I think will primarily appear to girls, but boys should enjoy it, too.
Only one thing puzzled me while reading. The title is “shades of blue,” and many of the chapters are named for blue colors. I thought this must be a girl thing: I couldn’t see a connection. Even this got resolved on the last page.