Ransom

I first read Ransom (and every other Lois Duncan book I could get my hands on) when I was in middle school, and I have been interested to reread it to see if I still liked it as much as I did back then. I know that's a huge gamble, given how many things we overlook as kids, but I'm so happy that I found it just as enjoyable this time around.

I love that so many of the characters, particularly the girls, have more layers and development than you typically see in most young adult novels. I found the depth that was accomplished for the characters to be fantastic considering this is quite a short book. It's not necessarily the scariest, creepiest, etc. book you'll ever read, and I remember liking other books by Lois Duncan better, but it's a solid book. I wouldn't recommend it for young kids.

The biggest flaw for me is that dialogue isn't always natural (high schoolers using “whom” instead of “who” in casual conversation...). Aside from that, a few of the situations are little bit less than believable, but they aren't distracting or so unbelievable that they border on absurd.

From what I understand, there's a new version of this book that added cell phones and other technology to make it “more relatable” to modern teens, but I'd recommend reading the 1966 version. Teenagers aren't stupid and can understand that cell phones didn't always exist.

Adult me rates it a 3 overall, but my inner middle schooler wants to give it a 5 for nostalgia and enjoyment. So I'm going with the average of those - 4 stars!