Full Tilt
Neal Shusterman
Simon & Schuster
Fiction, YA Horror
Themes: Cutthroat Competitions, Games, Sideshows
****
Description
Sixteen-year-old Blake is a level-headed young man, focused and dedicated, the polar opposite of his reckless
younger brother Quinn. But for Quinn, he might not have been at the amusement park with friends Russ and Maggie.
He certainly never would've ridden the Kamikaze roller coaster... and he wouldn't have ended up at the carnival
game booth with the strangely alluring redheaded lady, Cassandra. She offers him an invitation to another park,
an exclusive park that only opens from midnight to dawn. Blake never would've considered going, except - once
again - Quinn has gotten himself in trouble. Somehow he stole Blake's invitation... only he left his comatose
body behind.
When Blake, Russ, and Maggie head out to rescue the boy, they find a theme park like nothing they could ever
have dreamed, save perhaps in their wildest nightmares. Cassandra's park is filled with strange attractions and
stranger staff - and if they can't finish seven rides before the park closes at dawn, they'll be trapped, the
same as countless other lost souls. It seems simple enough, but none of the rides are what they seem, each
insidiously crafted to exploit their greatest desires and fears and turn them against the teens. To rescue Quinn
and save himself and his friends, Blake may finally have to confront secrets that have haunted him for nearly a
decade - secrets he may not be strong enough to face, not even for the sake of his brother.
Review
It's a straightforward setup, the evil carnival preying on human weaknesses, and Shusterman executes it
competently in a tale exposing the terrors that underlie the thrills and the secret truths just beneath the
surface of reality, secrets that could shatter the thin veneer of normalcy and happiness of so many people's
lives.
Blake is the serious student, responsible and driven, who has already landed early admission at an Ivy League
school; this trip to the theme park with wannabe-jock Russ and Russ's girlfriend Maggie is something like a last
hurrah of childhood before he becomes - at sixteen - a college student living on his own in distant New York City.
Blake should be excited, or terrified, or something, but he has built calluses over his extreme emotions, stemming
from past traumas that come back to haunt him in the impossible theme park. Quinn is everything Blake isn't, and
would never let himself be, wearing rude hats and face piercings and often lacking a shred of personal preservation
instincts once he focuses on something he wants (or is told he can't have). Both boys also have the added burden of
being in a single parent home after their dad walked out, followed by a string of unpleasant men in their mother's
life - more incentive for Blake to dig into his self-appointed position as the family rock and leveler, and for
Quinn to get more piercings and more attitude. Even the promise of a possible light at the end of their personal
tunnels, with Blake's college prospects and Mom finally landing a decent boyfriend, only makes things worse, to the
point where Quinn runs off to Cassandra's hidden theme park and Blake has to go after... each carrying all that
extra baggage for the park's rides to prey upon and entrap them with. Russ and Maggie have their own baggage, too,
if with less backstory (they are, after all, just the sidekicks), which further complicates Blake's rescue
attempts. Everyone who passes through the park's gates must confront their inner demons and the lies they've been
telling themselves about what kind of person they truly are, and the three friends are no exception, forced to see
truths that they may not be able to handle. The horror becomes more personal for Blake not just because of his own
past trauma and the danger to his brother, but because Cassandra has taken a peculiar personal interest in his
progress.
Some of the rides seem a bit too on the nose - a maze of mirrors presenting distorted images and self-doubts, for
instance - but the surreal terror comes through decently for all that. The climax felt a trifle rushed, and the
aftermath had one revelation that cheapened some aspects of one character in a way that nearly knocked the rating
down a half-star. Other than that, despite the "evil carnival" thing not exactly being original, Full Tilt
makes for a decently creepy thrill ride through one young man's darkest self.