sevenspiders - reviewed on 8/20/2008 + 73 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 6

What a great premise this book has. Polar opposite siblings, bad-girl goth Marlo and straight-laced bookish Milton, die in a marshmellow explosion and both end up in Heck, not H-E-double-hockey-sticks, but more of an inferno with training wheel, a reform school from, well, hell. Basye stocks his colorful underworld with a pack of cleverly named characters in ironic situations (Nixon teaching ethics, Lizzie Borden teaching Home Ec). But the book sends mixed messages. Many of the references geared over the head of its adolescent audience (how many 12 year olds know who Typhoid Mary was or what Watergate was all about?). And he never quite explains what the purpose of this place is, is it an opportunity for redemption? Is it a Roald Dahl-style nightmare land for kids to escape? That part of the story could have been better developed; if it had the story would have reached a whole new level. But it does have charm, mainly the charm of the tug-of-war bond between the two heroes. Whether they're fighting each other or fighting for each other, Marlo and Milton's relationship is a true brother-sister relationship, and they are together the heart and soul of the book.

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