REVIEW for Chamber of Five

Thank you to the wonderful Jess at Random House Canada for sending me this book.

TITLE:               Chamber of Five

AUTHOR:         Michael Harmon

GENRE:            YA

RATING:          4 Stars

One of the things I love best about YA is the huge variety of genres that are available.  Specifically, there seems to be a "sub genre" which include plotlines where students end up together in a group, while having to deal with difficult situations.

Chamber of Five is exactly this type of book and, while it is not about "us" against natural catastrophes (my favorite), it does team up a bunch of incredibly wicked and horrible boys who, have way too much money, power and time on their hands, all the while being completely devoid of any integrity or character.

Of course, this makes for some intense reading and if I had to use one adjective to describe this wonderful book it would be intense.  As soon as the author introduces us to the list of characters, we are immediately drawn into their dark little world, where everything is evil and seems possible.  Can there really be such groups simply existing in all those private schools?  I believe there could be, which, of course, simply makes this story even more compelling.

Jason, the main character who tries to find the right way out of a scary and sordid situation, as a member of the "five" is written in a refreshing and fun way.  While he does have a conscience, the author has chosen to give him some interesting flaws, which can be built on to increase the degree of intensity of the story.

Of course, writing this review is difficult because I do not want to give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say that this was a satisfying read (although it felt a little short to me).