Review: Hate List

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Valerie is not looking forward to her first day of school in grade 12. She hasn't been to school since May 2nd, which was the day her boyfriend, Nick, opened fire in the school cafeteria and killed and injured several people, including Valerie. Nick targeted people who were on the "hate list" that he and Valerie had kept, a list that included students who bullied them and the bullies' friends. Although cleared by the police, many people still believe Valerie knew what Nick was going to do and at least partially blame her for the tragedy. It doesn't help that she's the only one left to blame since Nick died that day, too.

Valerie's journey through her recovery, both physical (Nick shot her almost fatally in the leg) and emotional, is poignant and powerful. She walks a line between being a perpetrator and a victim, not entirely sure which category she falls in even though she didn't know what Nick was planning. And then there's the grief: Nick was her first love and she misses him terribly, let alone trying to come to grips with what he did.

The variety of reactions she gets from her classmates, teachers and members of the community are wide ranging and it was often tough to watch her deal with them, sometimes pushing away the very people who really wanted to help her. I felt a lot of sympathy for Valerie and appreciated the author writing from her point of view.

It is hard to believe that it is 10 years since Columbine, and Hate List appears to be one of several books written recently about school shootings, and it is both unique and one of the best that I've read.

4 stars out of 5 for Hate List.

Jennifer Brown's website.

Read the first chapter of Hate List.

*This review is based on an advanced reader's copy (ARC) that I received from Little, Brown.