Crash and Burn

by Michael Hassan

Summary:
Crash didn't set out that morning to be a hero. He didn't intend to be the person who saved 1000 people from his classmate David. He wasn't even planning on being at school. But David had other plans, plans that were the direct result of their ten years of knowing each other.  Plans that dated even back to their first meeting in elementary school, to their first escapade where David earned his nickname Burn. Told from Crash's perspective and alternating between before and after the event, he retells the events that led up to the moment it was just them, Crash and Burn, surrounded by bombs and guns, each trying to out think the other.

Reviews:
Crash and Burn didn't grab me at first, but by the end I was reading it as quickly as I could to find out what happens. Crash is a brash character who goes through life like a bull in a china shop, but at the same time is someone you really want to be friends with. Reflecting on his relationship with David, each story reveals a little more of how they both ended up in a room together. The book does not focus as much on the attempted massacre itself, but instead on how everything built up to it, and how it changed Crash's life afterwards. The book is well written and engaging, but due to the content (drugs, drinking, sex, suicide, and an attempted school massacre) is probably best for older teens.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 10th Grade