Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Release Date: January 21, 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rated: YA 14+
Format: eGalley
Source: Edelweiss
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
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Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…

My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.

I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.

I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.

And I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.

But I’m going to.

I think the biggest thing that got me through this book was my curiosity. I came pretty close to not finishing Fake ID because it took me WAY too much time to read it, because I didn't find it fast-paced as I'd hoped for, or as intriguing as I'd wanted it to be. What did get me through was the fact that I just HAD to find out what this big secret was, why Eli was killed and what the hell is going on with this creepy town.
I really liked that this was not only a YA book that featured a male protagonist, but also that the book featured the main character as a character of colour. Being Indian, I know that in general, races (other than caucasian) are under-represented in YA. It was great to see that diversity presented in this novel, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of this book, I admired this aspect of it.

I really liked Nick's character– I thought that he was snarky (his comebacks were hilarious), street-smart and just made a really dynamic protagonist. To tell the truth, I haven't read to many YA books where the main character is a male, so this was refreshing for me in some aspects.
However, what I didn't enjoy the fact that the girls were sometimes overly sexualized. Reya was a really cool character, and was pretty bad-ass, but sometimes, through Nick's perspective, she comes off more for her body then her intelligence or skills. I find that this is a problem with a lot of YA. I'm not just talking about girls from a guy's POV, even guys in girls POVs tend to be really played up for their looks. I'm guilty of falling for it – I'm a teenager with hormones. HORMONES – so yes, I know I should look out for it more in young adult fiction.

I thought the plot went really slow for two-thirds of the novel. I was honestly debating whether to stop reading. In some respects, I'm glad I kept reading because I did NOT guess who the guilty party was in this book and seriously had no idea who it might be. It was a totally amazing ending, beating out many thrillers, because it was absolutely mind-blowing. Best last third of a book for a book that started and kept going really slow, for sure. I'm also really glad that this is a stand-alone, because I think a series might have been pushing it too much. The author's writing is really good, but I think was constituted to the slow pace was placing too much description in aspects that don't matter. Describing the setting too much, or even characters that don't matter took up a lot of time, and I thought that the descriptions could have been better spent elsewhere.
The story has A LOT going on. There's so much family drama, the murder, the Witness Protection Program and something a whole lot bigger going on, but this made me really confused with all the plot elements coming together. I think this might have also played a large factor into why I probably didn't enjoy the books as much as I'd hoped to.

While I didn't like much of the story, Fake ID was still thrilling with a fast-paced ending that had me gripped. Lamar Giles is clearly very talented, and nonetheless I'll be on the lookout for the next book of his. I'm sorry I couldn't enjoy this one as much, but many other people did like it, so be sure to give it a try because it does have fantastic characters and an ending to die for.

If you like this, try...

• A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan ● Goodreads