The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess is one of those authors I've always meant to read but somehow never got round to doing so. Many of his books are about intriguing, flashy topics and The Hit is no different. It's the tale of revolution and a little pill called Death that can give you the best week of your life on the condition that you die at the end of it.

It's an interesting enough idea (though Burgess admits it wasn't his) but sadly this book is lacking. While it's entertaining enough, the characters feel very...flat. They have personalities but a third person narrative combined with no focus on their emotions makes them seem very distant to the reader. This could be because the characters weren't Burgess's either but until I read another of his books, I can't really say whether this is the case.

Also the main guy Adam is just an asshole. I found it very difficult to root for him or even care about what happened to him much because he was such a douche. Lizzie was slightly more compelling but again, underreactions to her situation made it hard to relate to her. Less detailed characters could be acceptable if the plot was strong enough to carry the book but honestly? It's decent enough but you get the feeling it could have been so much more. A lot of the book is people talking about the revolution and how things are going to go/have been going with the occasional angry mob mentioned in the background. With the exception of the opening scene, the characters are never actually in an angry mob. The only people actively involved in the revolution are side characters and their role is very small in comparison.

The writing style too was annoyingly simplistic. I did wonder if maybe it was aimed at the younger side of YA fiction but the bleeped-out swearword on the front and the frequent mentions of sex/drugs suggest otherwise. Perhaps the simplicity is just the author's style, I don't know.

All in all, The Hit didn't wow me. Maybe the fact it wasn't the author's story made it suffer but either way, it fails to deliver the excitement the blurb promised. Is it bad? No. But the whole thing feels very meh.

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