Review: The 11th Hour by Kristine Scarrow

Title: The 11th Hour by Kristine Scarrow
Publisher: Dundurn
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction
Length: 192 pages
Book Rating: C+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Annika Dietty thinks her future is with Dylan Sopick — until they run away together.

One day, after weeks of secret planning, seventeen-year-old Annika Dietty leaves home at dawn to run away with her boyfriend, the charming and popular Dylan Sopick. She tried telling her friends and family how amazing Dylan is, but seeing as they all seem set against the relationship, she’s decided their only chance is to run away together.

But not everything goes according to plan, and Dylan seems to be having more and more trouble dealing with every obstacle they encounter. At first Annika is sympathetic, knowing that he’s had a harder life than she has, but very soon Dylan’s behaviour becomes unsettling, and Annika realizes that her safety is at stake. She finally admits to herself that Dylan needs support that she can’t provide. She wants to get him help — if she’ll get the chance.

Review:

The 11th Hour by Kristine Scarrow is a gritty young adult novel about teen love that goes terribly wrong.

Seventeen year old Annika Dietty and her eighteen year old boyfriend Dylan Sopick have been dating for the past six months. After Annika begins giving up her extracurricular activities and stops hanging out with friends so she can spend more time with Dylan, her parents order her to end their relatioship. Convinced he is the love of her life, Annika agrees to Dylan’s plan to run away together. However, once their plan is put into motion, Annika begins to see an unexpectedly dangerous side of Dylan that frightens her.  Unfortunately for Annika, Dylan has kept crucial information about himself hidden and these omissions leave her in a very precarious situation when their plans begin to go awry.

Annika is very sheltered so she is somewhat naive. Her parents are very involved in her life and they closely monitor her friends and activities. Dylan is Annika’s first serous boyfriend and although her parents initially like him, they have become alarmed by the recent changes in her behavior. After they forbid her to continue dating him and her friends confront her about her recent decisions, Annika clings even tighter to Dylan.

Dylan was not the best student but he was a star basketball player. He has carefully edited out the less than stellar parts of his life and Annika is mostly unaware of his somewhat troubled history. At first excited as they start out on their journey, Dylan does not handle adversity well and his mood darkens as things begin to go wrong. Annika is stunned when he lashes out in anger over what she perceives to  be a minor mistake and things between them quickly deteriorate.

Written from both Annika and Dylan’s perspective, the story begins with the couple running away so very little of their history is known at first. It is quite clear that Annika is a little too trusting but she is a likable young woman. Dylan is all over the place with his moods shifting quickly as he reacts to the various situations. He is immature but it is quite obvious his problems go much deeper than his lack of life experience.  There is not much context for what is wrong with him after the situation between him and Annika rapidly escalates into a crisis.

The 11th Hour is a short young adult novel that deals with some very difficult subject matter.  Kristine Scarrow delicately handles these topics with a great deal of sensitivity but exactly what is wrong with Dylan is not adequately explained.  The situation between Dylan and Annika ends abruptly and the novel’s conclusion is very heartbreaking. Despite a few flaws and frustrations, it is a worthwhile read that I recommend to teenagers.