Christian M Frank

This book made me cry my eyes out. I could just feel Allie's pain so acutely. It drives me crazy how blind the other characters were to her agony. I know that they weren't inside her head like I was, but George, at least, should have known her well enough to try to comfort her more. He knew she needed him in the last book, how was he so blind in this one? Just because they weren't dating anymore? Especially after what Tyler, Tyler, of all people, told him. Tyler has never had Allie's best interests at heart, but here he was trying to tell George that she needed him, and George ignored Tyler's warning.

Celia tried to help, but went about it in all the wrong way. I'm no expert, but I think if someone is grieving as much as Allie was, and says they're lonely, you should get together with them in smaller groups, not get a whole work camp going with new kids, thereby unintentionally alienating the one you're trying to help. And the scene at the end... it took her that long to figure out that Allie needed help? I mean, she should have at least noticed that Allie was loosing weight, and guessed that Allie was depressed from that. Honestly, she may have had Allie's best intentions at heart at first, but after a while it seemed like she was upset at Allie's flakiness. The girl just witnessed her best friend's murder for pity's sake! Give her a break.

I liked Liz well enough, I mean, it really bothers me that she works to manipulate people, but it hopefully she'll learn not to eventually. The way she told Allie her clothes were inappropriate was really rude, and her suspicion of Allie made me mad. But like I said, that may have been because she wasn't inside Allie's head, feeling her pain.

Brian is a pretty good character, but he was tactless at times. When he told Tyler to watch his mouth when Tyler cussed. I mean, I don't like cussing, but to a guy who goes to public school, and is in a lot of pain--He wouldn't appreciate or respect Brian's 'watch your mouth.' And when he told Allie that missing Mass...I'm glad he told her that she can't miss Mass, but it was pretty tactless the way he told her. And how could he not tell that Liz has a crush on him? It's so obvious.

I really like J.P., but we didn't get enough of him in this book. It's about time we get to hear his point of view.

James is a complicated character, like J.P., we didn't get a lot of him in this book. I want to know more about him. He is obviously strongly Catholic, yet his actions are so hateful, that if he was the only Catholic someone knew, they would never consider coming to the Church. I've thought that he had a crush on Allie since the first book, but I guess I won't get to find out for a while.

Allie was in so much pain that she couldn't feel God's love, and then her friends had to go and make her feel unnoticed. I know they didn't mean to do that, but if, as Celia said, the whole work camp was organized because Allie was lonely, why wouldn't they go out of their way to make sure she felt cared for? The scenes depicting her grief were so well written that they kept making me cry. I may not have ever had to go through anything like what Allie went through, but I know what it feels like to be lonely, and to feel unnoticed, and I wish that the other characters would have tried to help her more. She was just starting into the Church. She wasn't familiar enough with the teachings that the truth made her want to stay, so she really, needed the others to show her the kindness she so desperately needed.

I liked Athan and Isabel. I hope we get more of them later on in the series. Jacinta was really nice, but we didn't get to know her very well, Mary seems nice, but it's harder to tell because we're mostly hearing about her through Brian, who isn't exactly an unbiased judge. I really don't like Mrs. Summers. And I do know some people kind of like her. She was the one to 'throw the first stone' at Allie, judging her for her dress. Yes, Allie's dress was inappropriate, but the only thing that Allie understood was that the people at JP2HS wouldn't like it, not why. She didn't know that she was tempting boys to sin, and she certainly didn't know that the way she walked made it look like she knew what she was doing. Someone should have taken Allie aside and gently explained to her why she shouldn't dress like that. Miranda and her stupid friends were doing what they did on their own. Allie didn't even like them, yet Mrs. Summers accused her of being the ring-leader. Way to go Mrs. Summers. You just took a big step toward sending Allie over to Protestantism. The phrase 'love the sinner, hate the sin' is a good one to live by, but I don't know why Mrs. Summers would actually say that to Allie's face (And I still want to know why Celia would tell those things to Mrs. Summers.)So yeah, I don't like Mrs. Summers or her 'holier-than-thou' attitude that she probably doesn't even realize she has.

Ginger is a really interesting character. I can't wait to get to know her better. I know Keenan means well, but his anti-Catholic propaganda gets on my nerves. Also 'that one's embarrassing it's so easy, Jesus had brothers and sisters.' I'm no apologist, but even I know that the translation actually means 'kinsmen.'

I don't think that the almost completely unknown hitherto, Brock was the shooter, and if he is than I'll be very disappointed in the authors.

I do have one grammar complaint that showed up throughout the book: 'Got to.' 'I got to do something.' 'I got to talk to someone.' Maybe it's just me, but I would've preferred; 'I've got to do something' or 'I have got to talk to someone...' etc.

All in all I really enjoyed to book. It was much better that 'Trespasses Against Us,' and getting up there as good as 'Catholic Reluctantly.' I hope the rest of the series is as good (or better).… (más)

Wow. This book was really good.

There was this little blurb thing at the beginning of the book that pretty much let us know that the shooter is still alive and free. Thank you JP2 High authors for not disappointing me with an easy ending to that plot line.

Allie didn't develop as much as she did in the last book, but she did come back to the Catholic Church. Yay! She went through some more hard times, where she couldn't feel Jesus's love, she experienced a lot of self-hate, and her character backslid some, which was hard to read about, but she did have some character growth, which was really good, and I really enjoyed seeing her resolve a conflict with some of the girls in her cabin I was kind of surprised that she wasn't more upset about Tyler's death, not because he was ever nice to her, but because she felt so guilty about Nikki's death. I know that she was the one who convinced Nikki to go to the dance, but the shooter was also targeting people she cared about. I'm pretty sure he shot Nikki on purpose because he wanted to hurt Allie, and I think that he aimed for George for the same reason. As for Tyler, sure she had broken up with him, and didn't like him anymore, but he was her ex-boyfriend, she knew him, and I highly doubt she wanted him hurt, much less killed. I really enjoyed her part in the big debate, and it felt pretty realistic, she didn't know a lot of apologetics, but she was still able to get her point across. I was glad to finally meet her dad, and hear more about her friendship with Nikki.

Brian had a lot of character growth, which was wonderful. He finally realized the Liz liked him (realized? Ha, he only found out because Allie told him outright.) He realized that he was rude (about time,) which again was Allie, even if she was rude to him to get him to understand that. I really enjoyed his debates and attempts to convince Allie to come back to the Church, but I did grimace when he told Mahoney he couldn't join the discussion, even if he was trying to obey Pastor Holtz.

Celia wasn't in this book as much, mostly just in the letter she wrote, which was really sweet. I really enjoyed it.

George wasn't in the book much, for the same reasons as Celia, but the author only included a small part of his letter.

J.P. was in the book more, (yay!) hanging out with Liz and Brian, spying on Bickerstaff. His letter to Allie was funny. I loved that he gave some really expensive books to Brian, and his mom then wanted them back (I assume he got in trouble for that.)

Liz was awesome in this book. She had a lot of character growth. Her reaction to the way that Brian hurt her felt real (except maybe the rock-throwing part.) She grew a lot, from the girl who manipulated Hank by pretending to have a crush on him, to someone who could successfully pull off a fake interview with the guy who she thought was sabotaging her school (even if she did loose her cool at the end and chew Bickerstaff out, giving away her identity.) I also really liked how she told Brian that when she really cared about someone she would do anything for them. Tryout to get on the Sparrow Hills cheerleading squad to protect her brother who is going to play football there? Check! Spend all her money to buy Brian a phone, and the pretend that she didn't have anything to do with it (thereby not getting any credit.) Check! I can't wait to see what she does in the next book.

James is as mysterious and creepy as ever. Celia made him write a letter to Allie, that was very formal, and somewhat rude. I still think that he might have a crush on Allie, but the letter didn't make it seem like it. And there was that disconcerting encounter in chapter 19, where he told her and her dad to 'get away' and 'leave him alone.' and the fact that he dropped a bullet casing (I'm assuming that's what that was.) It seems the authors want us to suspect that James is the shooter. Whether he is or not depends on whether they keep the books dipping towards the mystery genre, at which point they need to make the identity of the shooter surprise us.

Keenan is an interesting character. He's clearly a good man, but is actions in this book are anything but. He uses Allie, he let's her use him, even though he knows she's using him. I liked the way that they resolved the conflict in his character (letting Allie pull herself and him further into sin vs. the good Christian guy that he is so obviously trying to be) he endangered his own life to save Allie's. Now I really hope he shows up in the next book, at least a little bit, so we can find out what happens to him I am glad we got to learn more about Ginger. She is a wonderful character. I hope we see her again. We also learn a lot about Nikki, which was great. Even when she was alive we didn't get to know her very much in the other books, and this was a really great way to give us more insight into her character.

I still have the same grammar complaint as in the last book. ('I got to do this,' 'we got to do that' vs. 'I've got to do this, 'we've got to that,' etc.)

And now for my biggest complaint: The next book is out, I know that it's out. I've ordered from Barnes and Noble. Unfortunately I also preordered [b:The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest|22574726|The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest|Melanie Dickerson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424817984s/22574726.jpg|42042285] (release date May 12th) and [b:Curse of the Seer|23214079|Curse of the Seer|Daniel Schwabauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1411605008s/23214079.jpg|42756461] (release date June 10th) and Barnes and Noble failed to inform me that they wouldn't ship my entire order until all the books I preordered are out, which means I have to wait until June to get this book, as well as two others that I've been waiting for a long time for and really want to read. Thanks a lot Barnes and Noble. (sarcasm)

This was an excellent edition to the series. I can't wait to read the next book. In June. When Barnes and Noble finally sends me my books.… (más)

My reaction, more-or-less upon finishing this book. "What the crap! What the crap! You can't end it like that!" Book six had better come out faster than book five did. I would like to note that I didn't actually read this as the kindle edition, I read it as the paperback, but for some reason Goodreads' version of this edition has no cover art, and like cover art. My review contains unhidden spoilers for the previous books.

I was really excited to finally get J.P.'s POV. Before he was just the comedic relief, but now we see that he's actually a really great character with real problems. As the youngest of ten children, he feels overlooked, which is largely why he has spent the other books pulling pranks and drawing attention to himself.

Liz was the other narrator, and her POV was also very interesting. In other books I usually found Liz to be unpleasant and fairly unlikable. Now, having heard things from her perspective she has joined Allie and J.P. as one of my favorite characters. She's strong, independent and curious, but she's also uncertain, insecure and self-deprecating. These character flaws are ones that we were never aware of when we were hearing about her from the other characters, and they make her much more relatable. There were still times when she bugged me, when she was impulsive in ways that really did hurt other people, but at least I know she didn't intend to hurt them.

Brian was showing his usual amount of tact and kindness--none. I liked Brian before book 3 when I heard his POV. Now I find him frustrating, clueless and irritating. I thought that he would been better, having learned that Liz has a crush on him but noooo... I thought that he would not have a crush on Mary Summers after their last interaction but noooo... And seriously, he asked Liz if it was okay if he hung out with Mary. Really? And thought that Liz was telling the truth when she said she didn't care? Ugh! How can he be so stupid?

George was a fairly minor character in this book. He really only got J.P. out of some trouble and didn't get along with James.

Celia was in this book less as well. As usual she was being the peace-keeper and trying to hold everything together. I felt so bad for her at the end.

Allie was a good character. I enjoyed seeing her develop, as she, apparently by force of will, became friends with James. I'm glad that she tried to help Liz, the way she knew how, to get over her insecurities, and I'm glad that she gave up her shooter-investigation. As she said, it wasn't good for her.

James is now the only main character whose POV we haven't heard yet. It's understandable, because if we did hear his point of view than the mystery would be greatly diminished. I really enjoyed seeing him open up to Allie, then Liz, and in some ways I was disappointed with the turn his character took toward the end. We got to hear some of his back-story, but we still know very little about him I'll be honest though, I thought there was a very good possibility that James was the shooter all the way back in the first book when he fake-shot Allie in the woods. I mean, his loss of temper certainly did make it look likely, but still, I hope the next book brings some more James-character-development.

We get a few glimpses into the shooter's head, and I must say he is creepy, creepy, creepy. "I am God." "The plan--my plan--it's made me God. And it truly did in a sense. His will had become reality. The supposedly powerful ones--the cops, the FBI, the TV stations--they all did his bidding He wanted to be dead to them, and so they pronounced him dead./Heh. Just like the 'real' God." And right there is one of my arguments why James isn't the shooter. He believes very strongly in God. I mean, he could be faking it, but, is he? The shooter is also, as we know, scary obsessed with Allie. "She had never been part of the plan, but now she was all he thought of: horrified, astonished, awestruck, trembling before him. He needed her to worship him./But she worshipped someone else now." I already knew that the shooter would be someone the characters knew, but his mention of "seeing her Facebook posts" really made that sink in.

For other characters we have Jacinta and Mary Summers, Isabel Reyes, Athen, Miranda Costain, Flynt and Brad (why are Mary and Isabel almost always mentioned with both first and last names, while Jacinta, Athen and Miranda are usually only called by their first names, and Flynt is mostly only called by his last name?) I liked Jacinta and would have liked to see more of her. Mary had a reason to dislike Liz, but her behavior still wasn't very loving (I guess she has her mother for a roll model.) I really feel bad for Isabel, especially after what Liz did to her, and I would like to see Liz apologize for that. I liked Athen in the last book. While still likeable, I found him more irritating this time round, but that was probably just because J.P. was narrating. Miranda was as unpleasant as usual. I really liked the character development in both Flynt and Brad. This is the first time (that I remember anyway, I really should re-read books 1 and 2) that we've met Brad. He was introduced and rounded out very well. Flynt we knew before, albeit not very well. He was just one of Tyler's lackeys. Now he was reintroduced to us as almost a new character. The shooting and Tyler's death affected him greatly, and I really liked seeing him turn from the stereotypical bully's henchman character, to one that actually seemed real.

The story was intriguing. It's interesting that the John Paul 2 High books could really be called the John Paul High Mystery Series. The books have all been setting up the question; who is the shooter. I am still not convinced that they've found him, to be perfectly honest. I heard or read somewhere that mysteries are one of the hardest books to write because your readers will be doing everything they can to try and figure out the answer to the mystery before the characters, but if they do then they feel cheated. I'll add my own opinion to that; if the answer is so out there that you don't even know the culprit, then your readers also feel cheated (this is one reason why so many people were disappointed with [b: The Private School Murders|17333276|The Private School Murders (Confessions, #2)|James Patterson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1373406704s/17333276.jpg|24064830]) These are reasons why I am slightly worried about what will happen next in the books. if James really is the shooter, then I'll be somewhat disappointed, because I'd already guessed that, but if he isn't, I can't think of any other character who could be the shooter, without being disappointed because I wasn't well enough acquainted with him before.

Okay, this may be farfetched, but I also sort of think that because Mr. Costain refused to expel James (and I thought his reasoning was sound) and so many parents, even George's mom and J.P.'s parents and Brian's dad walked away from the school, James will be acquitted, or otherwise proved not to be the shooter, because then the parents will feel guilty and foolish for not listening to Mr. Costain and Mrs. Simonelli. That's just my theory though.

Here's another reason (at least in my mind) why James can't be the shooter. In book four we were given foreshadowing, via Nikki, that the shooter would get to Allie. This could be interpreted as what happened later that book, with Allie running from Bickerstaff, but Bickerstaff was focused on hurting Liz, Allie just got in the way, so I do think that Nikki's foreshadowing ought to apply to the shooter.

I hope the next book doesn't take too long to come out, because that ending was not okay.… (más)