The Hit

by Melvin Burgess

Overview

“This fantasy about a drug that gives users a perfect week, then sudden death, is compelling fiction—and nearly a masterpiece.” —The Guardian

A new drug is on the street. Everyone’s buzzing about it. Take the hit. Live the most intense week of your life. Then die. It’s the ultimate high at the ultimate price. Adam thinks it over. He’s poor, and doesn’t see that changing. Lizzie, his girlfriend, can’t make up her mind about sleeping with him, so he can’t get laid. His brother Jess is missing. And Manchester is in chaos, controlled by drug dealers and besieged by a group of homegrown terrorists who call themselves the Zealots. Wouldn’t one amazing week be better than this endless, penniless misery? After Adam downs one of the Death pills, he’s about to find out.

“A boundary pushing thriller. . . . Amid violent action, existential anguish, and the heightened appreciation for life that death can bring, Burgess has created a premise that readers will find hard to forget.” —Publishers Weekly

“Viscerally exciting and emotionally engaging. . . . A clear winner from Burgess.” —Booklist

“An exciting, dark story of sex, drugs, and revolution that is sure to grip readers.” —School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545557009
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	711,278
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

MELVIN BURGESS is the recipient of both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award for his controversial bestseller JUNK (SMACK in the US). He is the author of more than twenty books for young readers, including DOING IT, BLOODTIDE, SARA'S FACE, and KILL ALL ENEMIES. Visit his website http://melvinburgess.net and follow him on Twitter @MelvinBurgess.

Read an Excerpt

From THE HITAdam crept upstairs as quietly as he could and lay on the bed. He stayed still, then tried texting Lizzie."I'm sorry. Please talk to me."Nothing. "Please, Lizzie, please. I need you."He stared at the screen, texted again. The same thing.That was it. It was over. He was never going to see her again. Adam took out the bag of pills and held one in the palm of his hand. He turned on the TV. It was an old movie. A man and a woman kissed. She rested her head against his neck and sighed deeply.Some kind of scam, those pills. Not real. Could be. Maybe, maybe not. Who knew?Adam popped the pill into his mouth, but didn't swallow, just held it there. It was an answer, wasn't it? One glorious week. What else had he got to look forward to now?"We need a place of our own," said the man on the TV. The woman reached up and kissed him again. She sighed.He could sell the rest of the pills and have the time of his life. Why not? The pill was dissolving in his mouth. It tasted acrid. Adam reached over to the glass of water by his bed, took a mouthful, and swallowed.He lay there. What had he done? Not much, he thought. What had he got to lose? Not much.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/23/2013
Burgess (Smack) returns with a boundary-pushing thriller that all-too-believably builds on contemporary threads including income inequality, the Occupy movement, and a YOLO mentality. On the night he attends rocker Jimmy Earle's final concert, Adam knows that his life has changed. Earle's on-stage demise—supposedly from Death, an expensive drug that provides the consummate one-week high followed by death—has awakened a riotous fervor in depressed Manchester, England, which may mark the beginning of a larger revolution. The high of Adam's night out with his girlfriend, Lizzie, comes crashing down when Adam's older brother, Jess, is reported dead. Suddenly, taking Death means a way out. Burgess's prose is straightforward and fast-paced, and his third-person narration hopscotches from character to character while giving readers clear insight into the motives that drive them. His plot swerves are unexpected but well-maneuvered, and his characters' flaws and self-absorptions make them complex and real. Amid violent action, existential anguish, and the heightened appreciation for life that death can bring, Burgess has created a premise that readers will find hard to forget. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"One of the few entirely essential authors in the world of young-adult fiction...THE HIT has many of the elements that make Burgess such a compelling writer. The sex, drugs, and rock n' roll are all there, and that distinctive Burgess prose — swaggering, intense, and exciting — thrums through it all." — Anthony McGowan

"A writer of the highest quality with exceptional powers of insight." — THE LONDON TIMES


Booklist Starred Review
Burgess’ dystopian novel posits a near-future world in which the gap between rich and poor has grown to an unbridgeable chasm. In their despair, many have-nots are taking a new drug called Death that offers seven days of euphoric bliss followed by the oblivion of death. Adam, 17, is one of these. His hopes for an education are dashed, his brother is missing and presumed dead, and he’s been dumped by his girlfriend, Lizzie. Seeing nothing but a bleak future, he impulsively takes the pill, but as his own options are precluded, enormous changes are underway. Led by a group called the Zealots, society is teetering on the brink of revolution. Meanwhile, a drug lord and his psychopathic son enter Adam and Lizzie’s lives to potentially catastrophic effect. Will Lizzie survive? Will Adam die or is it possible that there might be an antidote to Death after all? Burgess, a master of YA literature, has written a novel of white-knuckle suspense that has considerable violence and ambitious philosophical underpinnings. How does one deal with socioeconomic inequity? Is revolution a viable strategy? Is death? If this ambitious novel has flaws, it may be a lack of attention to these very questions. In addition, the villains—though terrifying—are over the top. But all that said, the novel is viscerally exciting and emotionally engaging. Best of all, it is sure to excite both thoughtful analysis and heated discussion among its readers. A clear winner from Burgess.


Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Burgess (Smack) returns with a boundary-pushing thriller that all-too-believably builds on contemporary threads including income inequality, the Occupy movement, and a YOLO mentality. On the night he attends rocker Jimmy Earle's final concert, Adam knows that his life has changed. Earle's on-stage demise—supposedly from Death, an expensive drug that provides the consummate one-week high followed by death—has awakened a riotous fervor in depressed Manchester, England, which may mark the beginning of a larger revolution. The high of Adam's night out with his girlfriend, Lizzie, comes crashing down when Adam's older brother, Jess, is reported dead. Suddenly, taking Death means a way out. Burgess's prose is straightforward and fast-paced, and his third-person narration hopscotches from character to character while giving readers clear insight into the motives that drive them. His plot swerves are unexpected but well-maneuvered, and his characters' flaws and self-absorptions make them complex and real. Amid violent action, existential anguish, and the heightened appreciation for life that death can bring, Burgess has created a premise that readers will find hard to forget.

From the Publisher

2013-11-27
After 20 years of economic recession, the gaps between England's rich and poor are wider and starker than ever. Young lovers Lizzie and Adam are keenly aware of the challenges they face: She's been raised in a bubble of privilege, while he's from a family barely scraping by due to his father's disability. Against this backdrop of economic and social inequity, the hot new recreational drug is Death, which gives its users one extraordinary last week of life, followed by, well, death. Adam and Lizzie are curious, but they steer clear of Death until Adam's brother, Jess, who's been keeping their family afloat financially as a chemist, is suddenly revealed to be a member of the revolutionary political group the Zealots (akin to the hacker group Anonymous, if they resorted to self-immolation and suicide bombings). Shattered by the news of his brother's secret life and presumed death, Adam attends a disastrous party with Lizzie, steals a stash of Death and in a reckless moment of grief, takes the drug. From there, the plot--jam-packed with ill-advised escapades, secret identities, fights and chases--threatens to spiral out of control, but in spite of some Grand Guignol violence administered by grotesque villains just this side of Carl Hiaasen, Burgess' surprisingly gritty hero and heroine are able to enjoy some muted hopefulness for their pains. Refreshingly rooted in the issues of the day, Burgess' near-future thriller stands out. (Dystopian thriller. 15-18)

Kirkus Reviews