Burning Blue

What to say about Burning Blue by Paul Griffin.....

I feel that this story poses a problem for reviewers, being that there are so many aspects to consider. Let me start with a quick plot summary. Basically, all you need to know is that this gorgeous pageant girl, Nicole Castro, is burned by battery acid, thrown on her by a jealous fiend nicknamed the Recluse. (Doesn't this kind of drama occur at your high school everyday? But of course!) And thus our hero, Jay, swoops and uses his intense hacking skills to try and attempt to crack the case.

Now I don't know about you, but I hate those "Who do you think did it?" or "It's up to you." endings. They are totally bogus and not a satisfactory or correct way to end a story. Which is why I wasn't too keen on "The Lady or the Tiger." Don't worry fellow readers, that is not something you have to worry about. But I will say this - it is the absolute last person you think did it. Which, I might add, is totally cliched. Everything nowadays is.

Expressing my true feelings on this would cause me to reveal the mind-shattering ending, and I am definitely not that mean. But saying who did it really doesn't matter because it is a messed up concept anyway.

Lately, I've been finding myself questioning the sanity of authors, and I have brought myself back to that point again with Paul Griffin. Burning Blue has so many different meanings in this story, all of which I cannot tell you, as it would reveal major plot points. (Ugh, just go out and buy it already and spare me the torture.) I have come to a deeper realization though - Paul really talks about major teen issues in this novel, issues that are important to teens today. Jealousy, cutting, inner beauty - all of these points play a major role in the story.

Despite the serious mental....issues.....that erupt from reading this, I found Burning Blue to be extremely well written, enjoyable, and a real page turner. For awhile, I wasn't reading often, but the closer I inched to the end of the book, the more hooked I became. As a person, I never felt myself feeling sorry for Nicole. There was no reason to pity her because, when you really look at it, that's not what she wanted. Nicole needed to come to the realization that she was beautiful, and so did everyone else. Only Jay saw her true beauty, her true self, her true reasons for Burning Blue.