This is your typical teen thriller. College admissions, amnesia, love sub-plots, friend/family drama.
The eponymous Headmaster's List is a huge motivator for a lot of kids as it plays a large role in who gets accepted to the Ivies later on. I wasn't clear on how that works (can a prep school dean really force college acceptance with some kind of running leaderboard?). Oh well.
The amnesia trope is key to the plot. That can be fun, but it's way overused and isn't done well here.
Parts were written as transcripts from a podcast which made them easy to read but didn't serve much of a purpose.
There's a little teen insta-love; nothing too bothersome except that it wasn't very believable from the protagonist.
I don't make an effort to figure out mysteries. This one I figured out unintentionally very early on. So the big reveal at 90% was a let-down.
The best friend was very much a prop, as she was crucial to get the plot moving but forgotten about completely until she was needed at the end.
I don't expect much from teen thrillers, but this was too fluffy and obvious for me. It took itself far too seriously.
The eponymous Headmaster's List is a huge motivator for a lot of kids as it plays a large role in who gets accepted to the Ivies later on. I wasn't clear on how that works (can a prep school dean really force college acceptance with some kind of running leaderboard?). Oh well.
The amnesia trope is key to the plot. That can be fun, but it's way overused and isn't done well here.
Parts were written as transcripts from a podcast which made them easy to read but didn't serve much of a purpose.
There's a little teen insta-love; nothing too bothersome except that it wasn't very believable from the protagonist.
I don't make an effort to figure out mysteries. This one I figured out unintentionally very early on. So the big reveal at 90% was a let-down.
The best friend was very much a prop, as she was crucial to get the plot moving but forgotten about completely until she was needed at the end.
I don't expect much from teen thrillers, but this was too fluffy and obvious for me. It took itself far too seriously.