A review by lazygal
The Detour by S.A. Bodeen

3.0

There's nothing wrong with unlikable main characters, particularly if the story is compelling (like, Gone Girl). The story here is Misery for the YA audience, without the maiming. But the part about the unlikable main characters? Olivia/Livvy is not just self-centered - and let's remember, she's only 17, so that's somewhat allowed - but she's not at all sympathetic. Her issues and Deep Dark Secrets are typical teen, and I admit that I thought her captors were somehow related to them. That there's a surprise twist was a pleasure and raised this from a 2. But at the end, once she's free and knows why she was the target, she shows no signs of growth or understanding. Now, teens are not always capable of deep insights, but surely after this experience there'd be something? Nope. They were wrong, she's in the right and she has the power of her blog and press and fame to feed that impression. In many ways that was a true ending, but I'd hoped for more.

ARC provided by publisher.