Junior Library Guild

• An exciting premise by a popular author with a knack for riveting storytelling.
• The novel alternates between two equally engaging perspectives: Heather, who hadn’t planned to play Panic but joined in anguish when she caught her boyfriend cheating, and Dodge, who has been plotting his path to victory for years.
• In the fast-paced opening scenes, Lauren Oliver deftly characterizes Heather and Dodge and succinctly sets up their personal stakes in the game. Two sentences sum up Dodge’s personality and viewpoint: “Panic, he knew, was one big magic trick. The judges were the magicians; the rest of them were just a dumb, gaping audience.”
• Heather and Dodge both run into danger when it becomes clear that someone—or maybe several someones—are manipulating the game. The plot is engaging, with plenty of surprising twists along the way.
• The well-realized setting, a rundown small town with a history of tragedy, adds a powerful sense of desperation and longing to the story.

School Library Journal

There’s not much to do in tiny Carp, New York, so a group of teenagers take it upon themselves to create their own excitement through Panic, a risky game with potentially deadly sets of challenges. Panic is all about facing fears, and this year’s winner will take home a pot of $67,000. Both Heather and Dodge need to win for personal reasons, and they decide to form an alliance, one that will be threatened repeatedly throughout the game. The large cast of characters slowly reveals secrets, schemes, and fears that complicate the competition and its outcome as they participate in increasingly dangerous trials. Oliver maintains a high level of tension throughout, starting right in the middle of the action and relentlessly building momentum. The desperate and broken characters are willing to do just about anything to win, making it impossible to guess how the story will unfold. A mix of fear and determination permeate the writing, often manifesting in clipped, no-nonsense tones and a straightforward approach to unimaginable situations. The bleak setting, tenacious characters, and anxiety-filled atmosphere will draw readers right into this unique story. Oliver’s powerful return to a contemporary realistic setting will find wide a readership with this fast-paced and captivating book.—Amanda MacGregor, formerly at Apollo High School Library, St. Cloud, MN

Horn Book

In the small upstate New York town of Carp, graduating seniors take part in the officially unsanctioned game of Panic. On June 18th, teens Heather and Dodge announce their participation by making the Jump. After the last trial—Joust—the Panic winner will take home a pot of $67,000, a small fortune in a town where forty percent of the adult population is on unemployment. Heather, the daughter of an addict, joins the competition on a whim; Dodge enters determined to win not the pot but revenge. As the summer progresses, the teens’ personal lives shift and change while the Panic trials become increasingly dangerous. Though this is a work of straight realism, the book retains all the tension and excitement of Oliver’s science fiction series Delirium (rev. 3/11, 3/12, 3/13). The writing is fluid and the story itself has a rawness that echoes both characters’ state of mind and situation. Heather and Dodge are well-rounded characters, motivated by a number of external and internal forces, who are preparing for a less-than-perfect future. Heather has a strong but confused identity; Dodge is rough, gritty, and determined, with an overwhelming tenderness. A work with sharp corners, dark places, and considerable humanity. Siân gaetano