Jake Rivers spent his college years as the ultimate partying prankster. He put all that stuff behind him, though, after a spring break when something went wrong--something he can't quite remember. When he's blackmailed into revisiting his past, he'll have to confront old college buddies and old memories he never thought he'd face again. This unique contemporary mystery ping-pongs between 1994 (Jake's senior year) and 2005 (Jake's search) in a slow reveal that kept me interested till the final page.

I picked this up as a fan of Thrasher's Solitary Tales, and it's fascinating to observe the evolution of his style and voice from this book to those. His craft has grown a lot, but his signatures are all present here: a self-aware protagonist, character-driven suspense, natural dialogue.

Another commonality with [b:Solitary|7140387|Solitary (Solitary Tales, #1)|Travis Thrasher|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348596847s/7140387.jpg|7404309] (which may not be present in all his work) is the motif of music, but in Admission, it's overdone. This book feels something like American Graffiti for the 1990's--or at least, the alternative 1990's. As a movie, it would work great, because the audience could absorb the music as background. It's less effective, even forced, in a novel, because the reader is constantly reading artist names and song titles (in every scene, pretty much literally). As text, less would have been more.

The mystery kept me curious until almost the end (when I figured out whodunit), but the reveal was anticlimactic for some reason. Still, it felt like reality. "Well, there it is, now we move on." Anyway, the strength of this book is in the characterizations, not the plot. It's a fast read, the cast is large (for a book this length), and nobody gets deep backstory or little endearing quirks. But somehow, in this snapshot presentation of them, they all still feel real. The constant shift between past and present revealed just the right things about them at just the right time.

I cared the most for Alyssa, wanting her to find faith again and rediscover the person she'd been in college. And I really enjoyed the spiritual role reversal for her and Jake--she the devout one in college, now unsure; he the rebel in college, now devout. One of my favorite moments is current-Jake's attempt to explain his faith and how he got here, thinking that he's so bad at this witnessing thing and has no idea what to say. Realistically, the author doesn't give him a later moment of brilliant evangelical dialogue. Jake's just a guy trying to walk in the light now and shed his old, dark self.

Rounding up from 3.5 stars for the originality of the presentation and the simple humanity of the characters. I have no doubt I'll return to Travis Thrasher yet again. ( )

Even though the plot in this book is extreme... I can completely seeing it happening with my friends from the small college I went to. I think that this is a definite read for all those kids who just want to party and don't realize what can happen. If only they could learn from other peoples mistakes before making their own. I definitely recommend this book to any college kid. ( )

Even though the plot in this book is extreme... I can completely seeing it happening with my friends from the small college I went to. I think that this is a definite read for all those kids who just want to party and don't realize what can happen. If only they could learn from other peoples mistakes before making their own. I definitely recommend this book to any college kid. ( )

Jake Rivers receives a phone call from a stranger who offers Jake $50,000 if he will find the stranger's daughter who happens to be with one of Jake's college friends, Alec, who he has not seen in 11 years. Jake takes the offer and begins hunting down his old college gang one by one to see if they can help him find Alec. The reason Jake hasn't seen any of them in 11 years is because something awful happened during spring break of their senior year but Jake can't remember what it is because he had a drunken black-out. He just knows that he woke up the next morning covered in blood with a knife in his hand. The characters are fleshed out fairly well, but the mystery/plot is thin, and the ending comes as no surprise at all. ( )

Plot Summary: What happens, When & Where, Central Characters, Major Conflicts
Jake hoped that what happened in college would stay in the past. But when he is contacted by a man looking for his daughter, Jake is forced to confront what happened during his last semester. You see, the man's daughter was last seen in the company of Jake's former college buddy Alec. Jake hasn't seen Alec in over 10 years, but he agrees to start looking for him. That leads to him reconnecting with his group of college friends, and also to him gradually remembering what happened during that last year of school. It seems that someone doesn't want him to remember though, as it looks more and more like someone is trying to warn him to stay away.






Style Characterisics: Pacing, clarity, structure, narrative devices, etc.
Shifts from the past to the present from chapter to chapter, as we follow Jake's investigation and also his memories (such as they are) of what happened in college. Jake was a heavy drinker back then, and his memories of what happened--and why people are dead or missing--is not very clear. This build suspense as the reader waits to see the truth about Jake and his college friends revealed. There is also a bit of romance in the book, as Jake reconnects with an old love interest from his college days. She was too much of a "good girl" back then to get serious with him, but now Jake has changed--but so has she. First of all, they have to figure out who is trying to hurt people, and what went horribly wrong during Jake's last spring break.






How Good is it?
Good suspense, a pageturner. Also touches on some deeper issues in the characters lives, but doesn't go too deep or get too preachy, allowing the flow of the story to carry the message. ( )