A review by civilgurl83
Inspection by Josh Malerman

2.0

2 stars

I tried, but I just couldn't get into this book. I love dystopian novels and the premise sounded so interesting.

There are two groups of 12 year old kids. All named alphabet letters. Boys in one tower and girls in another. The first half of the book we follow a boy named J with 23 others letter boys. They know only the life they live with D.A.D. And the inspections they endure checking for rot. Two other alphabet boys A and Z were sent to the corner, the boys know this is a place they don't want to be.

Next part of the book we learn of a girl named K under the same circumstances. Her best friend J disappeared to the corner. Both J and K are curious and know nothing of the opposite sex.

I never could really figure out what the end goal of the towers were and why the boys and girls could know nothing of eachother, other than that distract each other with attraction.

When it finally started getting interesting and picking up, it felt so rushed to conclude. We spent so much time with each kid just to rush the end. I wished l less time was spent in the towers and more time was given to the ending of this story. Instead the boy and girl stories are just very slow and repetitive.

Don't get me wrong though. I love Josh Malerman after bird box and I'll continue to read thru his collection. Inspection (although not my fave) shows to me he has an expansive imagination and I look forward to reading more of his work.