Freaks Like Us

by Susan Vaught

Overview

When Jason Milwaukee's best friend, Sunshine, disappears from the face of the earth, the whole town, including Jason, starts searching for her. But the insistent voices in Jason's head won't let him get to the heart of the mystery-he's schizophrenic, and the voices make it hard to know what is real and what is not. As the chase becomes more panicked, Jason's meds start wearing off, and he is looking more and more guilty. But of what, exactly? Both brilliantly witty and intensely honest, this poignant novel draws upon the author's many years as an adolescent psychologist, but it's Vaught's powerful voice and expertly crafted mystery that will keep the pages turning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599909592
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/04/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	591,811
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

SUSAN VAUGHT is the author of the highly acclaimed novels Trigger, My Big Fat Manifesto, Going Underground, as well as Oathbreaker, which she coauthored with her son, JB Redmond. She is also a practicing psychologist and lives with her family and many rescued animals in Kentucky.
www.susanvaught.com

Editorial Reviews

Jason is "Freak" to his peers and even his ADHD friend Drip, but not to Sunshine, who--though selectively mute--shares her thoughts and feelings with him. Now she's vanished, and Jason, whose schizophrenia has shaped his life, is a suspect in her disappearance. Seniors Jason, Drip and Sunshine have ridden the short bus and gone through school labeled SED--that's "Severely Emotionally Disturbed, for you long-bus people." Bullying at the hands of kids with behavioral disabilities goes unreported and unpunished, but the trio's alliance made life bearable in their catchall special ed program, where kids with vastly different abilities and disabilities are treated as extensions of their diagnosis acronyms. (Jason, whose irony is well-honed, calls them "alphabets.") Desperate to find Sunshine, Jason and Drip are wary of sharing all they know with adults who see them as extensions of their stigma. As the FBI investigates, Jason's always-shaky world threatens to come apart. Not taking "fuzzy pills" keeps his brain sharp, but the voices plaguing him grow louder. Jason carries Sunshine's secrets--should he break his promise not to tell? While the action is occasionally slow and repetitive--suspense arising more from Jason's internal battles than external action--readers will stick with him; he's sympathetic, compelling and smart. Navigating a harsh world, the psychologist author makes clear, amounts to an education in itself. An illuminating, recommended read. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews