Psychological Thriller and Suspense; Young Adult Literature
Make no mistake: Surrender gets our hearts pumping with its brutal murders by hatchet and refrigerator, arson, strange events, and, of course, Finnigan, who pretty much oozes evil. At its heart, this novel is a mystery: Who exactly is Finnigan, and what's up with his relationship to Gabriel (a.k.a. Anwell)? As we read, we come to find that the answers to these questions are trickier to come by than they at times appear, and along the way, we get a steady dose of all kinds of creepy things that make our skin crawl.
Let's pull out our creepy, thriller and suspense genre checklist (not that we carry one of those around with us… no, that would be weird… and creepy):
- Lighting fires to get back at people who make fun of you? Check.
- Killing off family members because they get on your nerves? Check.
- Promising a sense of doom to come to everyone who crosses you? Check.
- Bones and bodies being discovered? Check.
- Identity switching and games? Check.
- Really freaky events (like willing yourself to die and stuff)? Check.
It's official: This book is chock-full of creepy elements that add to the suspense and thrill of reading it. All of these elements come together to convince us from the beginning that something is awry, that this isn't a normal or happy world we're contending with. As a result, we find ourselves on the edge of our seats early, and that's exactly where we stay, even after we read the last words.
And while Gabriel and Finnigan might turn out to be two of the creepiest teens to ever grace YA shelves at your local library, their story's still been written with teens in mind, so that's where you'll find it. Amidst all of the gloom, after all, there are still high school crushes and struggles with parents and powerlessness and all that good teen stuff.