Barry Lyga's book takes a different look at gun violence and the way it can destroy a family--and it's very successful. Most young adult books that deal with this topic look at the way that a teen might become a school shooter. But Lyga's take feels refreshing; Sebastian wasn't old enough to know how dangerous the gun was when he shot his sister, but he lives with this incredible guilt for the rest of his life.

The other topic that this novel deals with gracefully is "the friend zone." Sebastian, inevitably, develops feelings for Aneesa who doesn't develop feelings back. In the end, he realizes it was his fault and not Aneesa's, and he writes her a letter about it. This subject is rarely dealt with in young adult fiction, but I think it needs to be discussed more, and in a tasteful way like this.

All in all, I picked this book up as a light read and wasn't able to put it down until I was finished. With strong characters and relevant topics, this is a book that more people should be talking about.

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