about the book
Somewhere in New York State sits the tiny impoverished town of Carp. Racked with unemployment, opportunity comes rarely and change happens never at all. One day blurs into the next, and the biggest dreams are about getting out.
Summer is the worst. There is nothing to do. That is why Panic started. Panic is an unsanctioned game, played only by graduating seniors for more years than people can remember. Every student has to pony up a dollar a day for every day of school. Those who try to welch end up with mashed faces or worse. This year the pot is at a whopping $67,000, the biggest ever, and only about forty seniors have actually signed up to participate in this summer’s deadly events!
The rules are simple. Two anonymous judges plan the game. They set up six challenges which are spaced throughout the summer and deliver the instructions. Participants must complete each event showing absolutely no fear. The judges add or deduct points based on performances, and after each round, players are eliminated. At the halfway point, individual challenges are even more dangerous. In the past, some have been injured; some have died.
A hundred and fifty students started this year’s senior class; only 107 graduated, including Heather Nill and Dodge Mason. No one will cheer for Dodge, who is considered a pussy. Tall and thin, he’s been every bully’s target. He’s the product of one of his mother’s short hot romances; the girl he is crushing on doesn’t even know he exists; and he is playing for revenge.
Dodge is sure he will win because he knows two secrets. First, he knows the game is nothing but a big magic trick. The judges are the magicians and the players are the dumb clueless audience. Dodge’s second secret is he is never afraid. He just doesn’t give a damn.
Filled with fear and heartbroken over a breakup with Matt, Heather enters on a whim. Still, she has a chance to win. Growing up, she braved the lake and raced the quarry with her friend, Bishop. She is one of the first to tackle the first challenge, The Jump. Plunging from the jagged ridge jutting forty feet over the icy cold quarry, she crosses the inky manmade lake and pulls herself up the slippery rock cliff on the other side. The daughter of an addict, the huge pot would allow Heather to start a new life.
For Heather and Dodge, Panic will bring love, alliances, revelations, and the realization that the very things they fear are the things they need the most.
Still, only one can win.
about the author
Growing up in Westchester, New York, Lauren Oliver came from a long line of writers. As a youngster, she was an avid reader. When she finished a book, she would write a sequel because she didn’t want to let the characters go.
Lauren earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and literature at the University of Chicago and a master’s from New York University. While Lauren was working on her master’s degree, she started writing her first book, Before I Fall. At the same time, she was working full time as an assistant editor at Penguin, living in a cramped run-down apartment with three other girls, and working until four in the morning as a bartender!
Her book Panic was inspired by a little-known Grimm’s fairy tale, which she calls The boy who went Forth to Learn About Shivers. It is the story of two brothers; one who is so simple that he doesn’t understand what shivers are. He goes to a haunted house and after three days, he is still too simple to be afraid. Lauren began asking herself what makes people afraid and why some people are better able to handle fear. Her story ended up being all about relationships, danger, and high stakes.
Lauren now writes full time and has the luxury of actually sleeping at night. She lives in Brooklyn and spends her spare time skipping, running, biking, swimming, collecting tattoos, and cooking. Lauren is passionate about good food, is obsessive about her kitchen, and hopes to own her own restaurant some day!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Amazon
Author page : HarperTeen
Author interview : Wondrous Reads
Author video interview
Book trailer: Panic
Also by Lauren Oliver:
Replica (Book 1). Harper Collins. October 2016.
Vanishing Girls. Harper Collins. 2015.
Rooms. Harper Collins. 2014.
Requiem (Delirium, Book 3). Harper Collins. 2013.
Pandemonium (Delirium, Book 2). Harper Collins. 2012.
Delirium (Book 1). Harper Collins. 2011.
Before I Fall. Harperteen. 2010.
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