{Review} Dead End by Jason Myers

Title: Dead End
Author: Jason Myers
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: June 14, 2011
Date Read: November 16 - November 17
Rating: ✭

Dru and Gina are young, in love, and can’t wait to get out of Marshall, Nebraska, a town where bloodline means everything and whoever has the money makes the rules. But all their dreams are shattered when Gina has a monstrous run-in with the son of the richest man in Marshall—an incident that leaves her broken, battered, and violated.
Driven by rage, Dru and Gina take matters into their own hands, and quickly find themselves in over their heads. Without any other options, Dru and Gina are on the run.
But there’s more chasing them than they think, and love might not be enough to save them.

I received a copy via my amazing Goodreads friend Christina, who shipped it to me after not being able to get past page fifteen. I was sure I could read the whole book, and I plan on sending DEAD END around the country to various of my friends if they believe they can handle it.

Upon cracking this relatively small book open, I thought:



Marshall is a corrupt town in Nebraska where Dru and Gina, two teenagers, live. Dru and Gina are very much in love and plan to leave the town as soon as they can. However, a disastrous confrontation in which Gina is gang-raped by the son of the richest man in Marshall and his friend crushes their hopes of escaping. Dru and Gina are forced to escape Marshall, but they're being followed by an assassin, and it's not going to end pretty. 

Pretty much my entire reaction for DEAD END.

No, this is not young-adult. It is not new-adult. Is this even adult? How about PORN?

I get it. This is supposed to be about teenagers - about the way we talk, about the way we think, and pretty much about how we always think about sex.

This crosses the line. It crossed the line a long time ago. This can't even be described as new-adult, because the words used are just vile for this genre.

Example?

"He pinned my legs above my shoulders and fucked me for maybe twenty minutes, who the fuck knows or cares, actually, and then he pulled his amazing dick out and came all over my tits and stomach. I rubbed the come around and licked my fingers and then he chugged a whole beer and started fucking me again."

The third freaking page talks about how Gina loves the way Dru fucks her. Literally, she says I love the way he fucks me. 

I don't know if you've ever had that feeling, but sometimes I read books that just feel surreal. It doesn't mean I liked them, but it's definitely dream-like. That's how I felt about DEAD END. The plot was okay enough, but the constant swearing, context, and unlikable characters dragged it down.

The word faggot is used tons of times, fuck is seen at least twice on every page, I can't even count how many times pussy is used, and it's just full of unnecessary crap. I'm all for swearing, but it's just too damn much when it doesn't have to be.

see? necessary.

DEAD END is written in third person limited, but there are also various points of view. It gives the story more content and background information, but it's also annoying to stray away from our two main characters. The writing is pretty terrible. But that, I don't mean that it's filled with spelling errors or grammatical mistakes (actually, there was an error)- I mean it reads like a horny fourteen year old that hasn't yet realized it's really not cool to say the word 'pussy' and 'fuck' every two seconds. Even from Gina's point of view - they sound exactly alike.

It's gritty, raw, morbid, dark, and disturbing, but it's also such a strange and weird book. That's the only thing I can describe it as. There is no happy beginning, middle, and end, but it's not realistic, either.

You know early on in the story that Gina is going to be gang-raped, but when you actually get to the part, it's... I don't know. You read about how Gina is terrified, but you don't feel it. It's more of a tell-than-show writing style, and that's how you feel most of the time in the book. 

It's really rather emotionless, and there is no gray in the story. It's black-and-white, evil-and-good. The world is against Dru and Gina, the angelic lovers of the world.

The characters are absolutely horrendous, especially Gina and Dru. I know you're not supposed to dislike Gina, but there's really no way you couldn't be annoyed by her.

This is how teenagers, girls and boys, are portrayed in DEAD END:



This is how I felt about Dru:


First of all, he has no personality whatsoever besides being a possessive, unromantic, stupid, abusive jerk.

When Gina doesn't show up to his meet because, you know, she's just being FUCKING RAPED, Dru gets super mad and starts yelling at her when he sees her again:

"Where you with another guy? Is that it? Huh? Did you sleep with some other guy tonight? Just come out and tell me, Gina. What another guy did you fuck tonight? [...] Don't lie, Gina. You weren't at my meet and I find you here crying. What guy's dick was inside of you tonight?

And this? This bullshit is supposed to be our Romeo? Our swooning love interest? We're supposed to like this guy and adore this love story? It makes my blood boil! This is how abusive relationships start - with an out-of-control guy screaming at his girlfriend, asking her who she slept with.

Right after Gina tells him she was raped, he gets furious at her and blames her. He's blaming the victim of a fucking rape! It doesn't matter if he feels bad for it a couple pages later, HE DID IT.

He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to blame her. [...] Blame the victim. Hate them until it hurts. 
Dru screamed and pounded his chest. "Did you even fight back?"

(remember what I said about bad writing? Is he part gorilla now?)

Dru protects Gina while they're on the run, and apparently he's so in love with Gina he can't see straight. But what's so great about Dru? What's so great about Gina, except for the fact they sound exactly like each other? There's no chemistry in their relationship besides lust.

This is how I felt about Gina:



Now, Gina.

I'm supposed to love her and feel terrible for her and just not think about how annoying she is because she's been raped. But being raped doesn't make you a better person, so I'm going to put it aside and just talk about Gina, pre-rape or no-rape.

What was I saying about no personality?

Gina is full of angst and depressed and sad and lifeless, and she's constantly taking Dru's crap. In an odd way, she's a strong female lead (she has done so much for everyone), but it's also a pain to be in Gina's head. She pretty much has no will to live, and even Dru can't save her from that.

This is how I felt about Lyle, the town sheriff:



I liked him well enough. He was an independent, powerful character who really needs to get the fuck out of Marshall and try to live a less depressing life.

This is how I felt about every other character:



The other characters were bland, especially Gina's rapists. They were made out to be immature boys, easily forgiven, when rape is a disgusting action and should always be taken seriously. Beau was a rich daddy's boy, and Corey was just a weak, poor little follower. Gina should get over it, right?

Beau's father Curtis was scary, and so was the assassin. They practically made my eye twitch and for that I applaud Myers. But they were supposed to be hated, anyway.

In the end, this book tries too hard to end it tragically. It did, of course, but it's not even a good tragic ending. I didn't feel bad and I didn't think twice about it. No sleep was lost over it.

I didn't like DEAD END at all, and this is how I felt about it:



I no recommend.

Oceana is a French-blooded teenager who enjoys stalking British boys and asking them to marry her. She was diagnosed with severe fangirl disorder in 2011. Able to curse like a sailor with an angelic voice.