A group of teens sign up for an assassination game on the streets of a big city. Their weapons: pressurized water guns. It’s meant to be a game, a sport. But for some, it’s more than harmless fun. To win, they’ll use any means necessary.
Two hundred players. Three weeks of tense cat-and-mouse action. Every stalker is being stalked and only one player will be left standing. No one will be the same.
Through multiple points of view, Harry Edge puts readers right in the middle of the action—watch your back!
When I first started reading this book I thought it was just about a giant game of assassin via water guns, but Edge really tried to make this book more than that. He attempts to show stronger and broader themes of war, water shortages, and broken families. Unfortunately in my opinion he doesn’t do a great job in completing some of these broader themes plotlines, or at the very least, making them connected to the story. But he does strike home with a few of them. And in the case of the broken family and Han looking for her brother it really adds to the suspense of the story.
That said some of the details Edge includes such as Han’s real looking gun at the end of the book, are not necessary to the story and really should have been cut in the editing process.
As for the characters I liked a good number of the main characters but none of them were to deep. I felt like some of the interactions (and especially the relationships between some of the characters) were especially painful to read (most specifically Shell’s and Matt’s relationship). My other big complaint about the characters is that they weren’t consistent with their ages. It didn’t make sense who was working and who was in school and it was also hard to tell who was what age. One of the only people I knew how old they were was Han, and she didn’t come close to acting her age.
But while I complain about these details the real fun and excitement in the book is the hunt-or-be-hunted attitude of the book. Edge really does do a great job making the book fun to read and in my book this is one of the best qualities a book like this can have. He does this by instilling a sense of urgency in the book really making the readers care about who wins the competition.
All in all Spray is a fantastic book for fans of Survivor and fans of games like Assassin and Werewolves. The adrenaline pumped action will win over readers of all ages (especially middle school boys). While it does have its drawbacks Spray is fun and exciting and if you’re just looking for something to pick up and read then this is a good book for you.
