Hate List
Realistic fiction
By Jennifer Brown
Reviewed by Mackenzie
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
It, the horrible, tragic thing that happened on May second, is in the newspapers. Everyone know about the messed up 
teenagers who created a hit-list that condemned most of the victims of the massacre at Garvin High to death, but no one cares that Val, the remaining of the two authors of the list, didn’t create the list with legitimate ill intentions. To Val, the “Hate List” was just a way for her to blow off steam. When Nick, Val’s boyfriend, pulled a gun out at school, Val was as surprised as anyone, not knowing that was happening at first. Nick even shot Val. To add insult to injury, Val is exiled from everyone when she returns to school, seen as an unstable, dangerous girl. She is worse off than ever, but no one else thinks so. There are so many questions still unanswered and so many wounds still unhealed.
Val must work to see the world as it really is. Maybe the kids picking on her about being “goth” or having a limp are just a bunch of clowns, hiding behind their own insecurities. Things must be interpreted and understood. The situation Val is trying to leave behind and forget must be overcome, but Val is not sure that she is strong enough to move on.
Jennifer Brown’s first novel, Hate List, captures a reader’s interest right at the beginning and holds it right to the end. Brown makes it clear that this is not just a book about a school shooting; it is a book about Val and her road to recovery. Flash backs are a very effective way that the characters are developed in this bood. Instead of just telling the reader who each person really is, the author shows you. No character is purely good or bad. I love the fact that I sometimes hated the victims of the shooting and sometimes loved Nick, the shooter. Hate List has an interesting original plot that most readers will enjoy.
