*Review* Need by Joelle Charbonneau

 

Genre: YA Thriller

Published: November 3, 2015

Pages: 349

“No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better.” 
Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley and in an attempt to knock out some of my forgotten backlog, I borrowed the audiobook from the library. This is my honest review. 

I think this book would have hit so differently ten years ago when the book came out than it did now. The way we use the internet and social media has just changed so much in the last decade that I struggle to believe this could happen today. I do believe that teenagers would be less suspicious of the promise of free stuff and the set-up for how the site spread around school is also plausible. 

In spite of not being able to accept this happening today, viewing the story through a bit of a historical fiction lens had me invested. And maybe I'm giving today's teenagers too much credit, but I genuinely believe they would in general be too smart and internet savvy to fall for this. Their grandparents on the other hand...But I can also see the appeal for pretty much anyway who is desperate enough. 

Overall I give Need 4.0285 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Amazon

Joelle Charbonneau is a storyteller at heart. She has performed in a variety of operas, musical theatre and children's theatre productions across the Chicagoland area. In addition to her stage work, Joelle has also performed with several bands and worked as a solo performer.

While Joelle is happy to perform for an audience, she is equally delighted to teach private voice lessons and use her experience from the stage to create compelling characters in her books. She is the author of the NY Times and USA Today Best Selling THE TESTING TRILOGY (The Testing, Independent Study and Graduation Day), the social media thriller NEED, the fantasy thriller DIVIDING EDEN as well as the Rebecca Robbins (Minotaur Books), the Glee Club Paige Marshall (Berkley) mysteries. Her books have been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Awards as well as listed on the YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and nominated for the YALSA Top Ten books for 2014.

To learn more, visit Joelle at her website: www.joellecharbonneau.com