Panic: Lauren Oliver

We meet again!

I’m a HUGE Hunger Games fan, both the novels and the films. Teem Peeta all the way, btw. When I read a highlight of this novel where it was likened to fans of the Hunger Games, I figured that I would give it a hearty try. Here we go :)

Brief Synopsis:

In the small town of Carp, there’s a game that is played every year called Panic. Nobody really talks about Panic, nobody can know who the judges for the year are, and nobody can blab. If you choose to play Panic, you’re in for some death-defying situations.

Heather was never going to enter Panic, but when she sees her supposed boyfriend with another girl, she impulsively takes the literal jump off of the cliff that traditionally marks who will be competing and who won’t. This year, she’s competing with her best friend, Nat, and the guy that’s liked Nat for a long time but hasn’t revealed it, Dodge.

Dodge doesn’t really run around with their crowd, and though nobody knows it, he has an entirely separate reason for playing the game this year than the really hefty prize sum that the winner will receive. Dodge’s sister, Dayna, played the game before and a competitor messed with the brakes on her vehicle, resulting in her being permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

Dodge knows that the culprit’s brother is competing this year and only has one thing on his mind: Revenge. Heather doesn’t really know why she stays in the game, but she does know that the money would get her and her little sister out of their waste of a town and away from their excuse of a mother. She doesn’t listen to her other best friend, Bishop, even though he pleads for her to quit the game. Bishop isn’t playing, and everyone know he doesn’t like Panic, but Bishop has secrets of his own waiting in the wings.

The game is dangerous and scary, and one night, it goes too far. Someone ends up dead and Dodge and Heather end up in the hospital. The game is temporarily put on hold, but nothing can hold Panic back for long. These teenagers play the deadly game while also navigating real life, which has its own twists and turns aplenty. Dodge just wants his sister to be okay, Heather and her little sister Lilly end up running away from their awful mother in their awful trailer, Nat can’t get a grip on her own life, and when Heather finally realizes her feelings for Bishop, she’s crushed when he pushes her aside.

When Heather and Lilly run away, they eventually end up with Anne, who had previously given Heather a summer job working on her property where she rescued many various animals that were in need. Dogs, pigs, chickens, and… tigers. I’m not gonna lie here, y’all, the tigers were the most outlandish part of the story to me and just felt kind of like a reach. But from the start, I also knew they’d be used as a part of the games or the danger somehow.

When the game is almost over, Nat finds out that her challenge is the stand in the pen with the tigers for 10 seconds. It seems harmless, but it’s freakin’ tigers guys. She lasts for a whole nine seconds and is effectively taken out of the game. The kicker? (Which I 100% saw coming) is that the pen didn’t get closed all the way and the tigers got out on their own. One is killed almost right away, but one is out on the run and nobody is sure where it is.

Dodge nearly convinces Heather to help him win the game, saying he’ll split the winnings with her, when Nat calls her and begs her to help trap Dodge and keep him away from the final task, the joust, so that he can’t hurt anyone in a way that can’t be taken back. Heather doesn’t realize that Dodge has already put plans in motion for things to be nearly fatal, and the joust has a very… interesting ending.

My Rating:

I’m going to go with a solid 8/10. I liked this story a lot and the characters were raw and real with a lot of their own issues.

Favorite Quote(s):

“…as though they had stared into the center of the universe and found it disappointing.”

“People would surprise you. They would knock you on your ass. It was practically the only thing you could count on.”

“But maybe you carried your demons with you everywhere, the way you carried your shadow.”

Other books I’ve read from this author: Who else has read the Delirium series? I read them many moons ago, a couple of times, and I just loved them so much. The thought that love is a disease we can be “cured” from? Ohh, so good!

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) and/or my Storygraph (bookishmamabish) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3