Ridiculous…But Fun Ridiculousness

Cannonball!

Were you a fan of the Christopher Pike books where highly sociopathic and/or psychopathic teenagers attempted to ruin the lives of others for strange reasons?  I loved those books. I guarantee that they are pure crap now (in fact, one cannonballer had been doing reviews and had me remembering them all in their crappy glory) but that’s pretty much what Liars Inc. is like.  It’s junk food, you know that it’s not really a good book but it was FANTASTIC to read because it was fun (it’s also pretty dumb because the identity of the potential killer was very obvious from the get go).

Max Cantrell is an adopted teenager who lives with a great family, has a beautiful, smart girlfriend (Parvati) and a super popular and rich best friend (Preston).  The three of them spend all their time together and accidentally stumble upon a “great idea”. They create Liar’s Inc, where they forge notes for students, switch tests, make phone calls and other small time subterfuge.  When Preston asks Max to set up an alibi for him so that he can go meet a girl he met online, Max is happy to oblige. This is all well and good until the FBI come looking for Max because Preston has disappeared, and Preston’s father (a U.S. senator) is anxious to find his son.  Things go from bad to worse when Max is framed for Preston’s murder after he just happens to be at a deadly housefire.

Who can Max trust?  Preston? He’s dead and has been videotaping and keeping dossiers on all of his friends. Why? What was he up to? Parvati? Max finds out that she’s been lying to him throughout their entire relationship about major things.  The senator who bailed him out of jail?  It seems that he has some pretty big secrets in the closet.  Whomever is out to frame Max is doing a very good job and aside from his family, he can trust no one.  Will Max be able to clear his name? Will he forgive Parvati, or is she the one setting him up?

Sooooo many questions!

I liked the book a lot. It was ridiculous and Max’s parents didn’t act like parents at all.  Oh, you’re out on bail but you want to take the truck to go investigate who you think is setting you up? Oh ok! Take my keys!  Be home for dinner, son!  But aside from all of that, I had a great time reading it. It’s a short book, maybe about 250 pages and it’s definitely a page turner. I won’t defend my love of it, too hard. I don’t want to take too many of you down that path but if you long for the days of when you devoured Christopher Pike books and you still remember the name Rindy Myers and you were soo shocked when you found out her name was actually an anagram (like 28 years later!) then you might find this book to be a little bit of your spirit animal.