Concentr8

November 9, 2015
In a story set in a fictionalized contemporary London, Sutcliffe (The Wall) blends scathing political commentary with Jonathan Swift's sarcasm and Lord of the Fliesâesque anarchy. On the heels of rioting in London due to the sudden scarcity of Concentr8, a state-prescribed medication for controlling hyperactivity, six teens take a hostage from the city housing department. Over the course of five days of introspection and interplay, these young people from London's projects come to a betterâand horrifyingâunderstanding of exactly how the political machine and society operate. With a writing style that is both entertaining and stark, Sutcliffe uses broad, vivid strokes to highlight societal injustice while filling in details that focus on the interconnectedness of friendship and the dangers of unquestioningly following a single leader. The varied perspectives of several narrators offer nuanced insight and a sobering glimpse at a population oppressed politically, socially, and in spirit. Ages 14âup. Agent: Felicity Rubinstein, Lutyens & Rubinstein.

November 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-In a near future, London is coping with some difficult issues. Life was calm while the government provided a drug called Concentr8 that was prescribed for people coping with ADHD. However, riots quickly spread throughout the city when Concentr8 is no longer distributed. In the midst of the chaos, five friends make a pivotal, spur-of-the-moment choice that will change everything: kidnap a government official. During the hostage situation, the depth of London's problems is revealed as more complicated than originally believed. Sutcliffe blends many character perspectives to shape the full story. This includes not only the teenagers but also politicians, journalists, and police officers. A few of these voices are tougher to follow than others with one punctuated almost exclusively with question marks and another essentially lacking punctuation entirely. This writing style allows readers to understand each of the characters and be able to relate with at least one. Though the book is set in the future, each chapter begins with quotes from historic texts and current research in ADHD trends as well as seemingly real Internet posts. The fictional book is alarmingly close to reality, making the story that much more powerful. Still, the teen characters do not benefit from any personal growth, and the story fizzles out with an anticlimactic conclusion. VERDICT A quick and easy read for avid dystopia fans, but a harder sell for more discerning readers.-Paige Rowse, Needham High School Library, Massachusetts

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2015
A near-future thriller about overprescription. It's a London much like the real one but for one change: the city has been funding the distribution of Concentr8, an ADHD medication, for all misbehaving students. When budget cuts lead to the discontinuation of the Concentr8 program, London erupts in riots. Amid the chaos, Blaze leads his followers Troy, Femi, Karen, and Lee away from the looting--then promptly kidnaps a municipal worker. Over the next six days, this impulsive act becomes a full-blown hostage crisis. The point of view shifts in heavily stylized voices among the kidnappers, the hostage, an investigative journalist, the mayor, even the police negotiator. Several of the teens begin to be fleshed out among all the stock characters: Troy's dedication to Blaze; Femi's desire to escape the situation; Karen's knowledge that she's got a potential future to destroy. The exception is Lee, with his degradingly portrayed developmental disability, who acts as mere set dressing. Meanwhile, the journalist seeks answers about Concentr8, and the teens begin to argue. Unfortunately, the flow is continually shattered by moralizing, primarily in the chapter epigraphs: most are lengthy quotations from real works implying ADHD is an imaginary diagnosis and Ritalin is snake oil, while several other chapters are, horrifyingly, preceded by genuine (though unattributed) tweets about ADHD medication. This thriller is bogged down by polemic and poor character development. (Dystopian thriller. 13-16)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2015
Grades 9-12 A near-future London has exploded with riots. The prime minister has pulled the plug on a social program that widely distributes Concentr8, a Ritalin-like drug taken by roughly one-tenth of the youth population, and the accompanying disability stipend granted to those teens' parents. In the chaos, five teens follow the charismatic lead of their friend Blaze and kidnap a low-level government official and hold him hostage in a disused warehouse, demanding the return of their medicine. Despite this high-stakes premise, the next six days largely consist of social commentary and character study. The narration rotates among the teens, their hostage, the mayor, a scientist involved in the Concentr8 program, and a journalist following the story. With so little time spent in any one character's perspective, Sutcliffe still manages to give dimension and a unique voice to almost everyone. Thought-provoking and rife with book-discussion fodder, this should be paired with other near-future books that ask what if? like those by Cory Doctorow.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
In a near-future London, a group of teens kidnap a civil servant in response to the government banning "Concentr8," a ubiquitous ADHD med. As reactionary rioting in the streets escalates into chaos, so does the hostage situation. Sutcliffe's premise, supported by epigraphs from real research and commentary, is promising, but the rotation among eight characters' viewpoints will hinder readers' engagement with the narrative.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)