Shock Point by April Henry

Shock Point by April Henry is about Cassie Streng, a teenage girl who finds out a shocking secret her step-father, Rick is trying to hide. He's a psychologist and has been prescribing a drug to his patients that causes them to commit suicide! When Cassie finds out, she wants to tell someone... anyone... to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, Rick finds out that Cassie knows and convinces her mother to send her to a "private boarding school" in Mexico called Peaceful Cove. Peaceful Cove is really a prison camp meant to break rebellious teens through power and control and sometimes even pain. Cassie is desperate to escape so she can be reunited with her mother and tell the truth about her stepfather and what he has done. The only problem is, it's nearly impossible to get out... people have even died (or been killed) trying.

This was a great action story and a really quick read. I finished it in a few hours one Sunday afternoon! I really liked the way the author used flashbacks to what happened just before Cassie was kidnapped and transported to Peaceful Cove. It was a really cool way to provide the back story! I also liked the way everything fell into place at the end.

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser is about 15 year old Garrett and his experiences at Lake Harmony, a boot camp for "troubled" teens. Garrett is an incredibly smart boy who falls in love with the wrong girl, his math teacher. Because his high-class, high-power parents think he's an embarrassment and will never stop seeing Sabrina, they hire people to kidnap him in the middle of the night and send him to boot camp. Lake Harmony is anything but harmonious. Garrett is abused - physically and mentally - in hopes of brainwashing him and turning him into the kind of kid his parents always wanted. Garrett is tough, and withstands this atrocious treatment for 7 months before agreeing to an escape plan hatched by the only two prisoners on his side. From there, it only gets worse for Garrett, as his conscious kicks in and forces him to save and protect the very people who are trying to capture him... leading to his eventual return to Lake Harmony, only to endure the worse beatings imaginable. He's made to be an example to the other prisoners of what happens when one tries to escape.

This was an amazing book. I had no idea there are really boot camps like Lake Harmony, kidnapping minors and beating the will out of them. The afterword in this book is eye-opening. Todd Strasser is an awesome author who always finds the most controversial and interesting topics to expose. This one is definitely for a more mature audience due to violence and topic.