Fix Me

Gr 9 Up—High schooler Penelope Wryter has been addicted to Fix, an illegal drug that allows users to manipulate the world around them, ever since her sister's suicide a year ago. She's considering quitting, but her best friend Rosario won't let up. Plus, the only time she sees Nate—the one thing keeping her together—is when she's high. Nate's just a side effect of the drug, after all. But as girls at Pen's school disappear while on Fix, reality and fantasy start to collide. Soon, Pen's forced to question everything she thinks she knows, from her loyalty to her friends to her own sanity. While the story line sounds exciting, the narrative has many shortcomings. The adult characters are mostly scenery, only appearing when necessary to advance the plot. The single exception is Pen's mother and her romantic relationship, which—while both emotionally and physically abusive—is treated as an inconvenience by Pen. In fact, every relationship is dangerously flawed, yet these issues are continually glossed over. When Rose's boyfriend, Clay, tries to force himself on Pen but is interrupted by her ex-boyfriend, Walker, he blames Pen for throwing herself at other guys. This attitude—which Walker displays fairly consistently throughout the novel—makes Pen's emotional transition from indifference to love beyond unbelievable. There's nothing redeemable about any of the characters.