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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Rob Thomas

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas: B

January 15, 2007 by Michelle Smith

From the back cover:
Houston, Sophomore Year
Steve is on top of the world. He and his friends are the talk of the school. He’s in love with a terrific girl. He can even deal with the astronaut—a world-famous hero who happens to be his father.

San Diego, Senior Year
Steve is bummed out, drugged out, flunking out. A no-nonsense counselor says he can graduate if he writes a 100-page paper. And in telling how he got to where he is, Steve discovers how to get to where he wants to be.

Review:
Rob Thomas is the creator of Veronica Mars, one of my favorite TV series, and so I was expecting a little something more than what Rats Saw God had to offer. It’s a perfectly decent little book, but I found it to be predictable, mostly on account of heavy-handed foreshadowing.

There are all kinds of little glints of what must be some of Thomas’s favorite elements—the troubled teen who has a poor relationship with his famous father, a supporting cast who fit just a bit too neatly into their stereotypical roles, the game of “I Never” used to reveal who has not done a particular thing, the popular teacher with a dark side…

That said, it was an enjoyable quick read, and I particularly liked how the blocking and gestures of various scenes were clearly and efficiently written. It’s like Thomas was seeing all of this as a TV show in his head even then.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Rob Thomas

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