Book Review: Random by Tom Leveen

Random
Author: Tom Leveen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: August 12th 2014
Review Source: Simon Pulse

Who's the real victim here? This tense and gripping exploration of cyberbullying and teen suicide is perfect for fans of Before I Fall and Thirteen Reasons Why.

Late at night Tori receives a random phone call. It's a wrong number. But the caller seems to want to talk, so she stays on the line.

He asks for a single thing—one reason not to kill himself.

The request plunges her into confusion. Because if this random caller actually does what he plans, he'll be the second person connected to Tori to take his own life. And the first just might land her in jail. After her Facebook page became Exhibit A in a tragic national news story about cyberbullying, Tori can't help but suspect the caller is a fraud. But what if he’s not? Her words alone may hold the power of life or death.

With the clock ticking, Tori has little time to save a stranger—and maybe redeem herself—leading to a startling conclusion that changes everything…

Random was one of those books that I couldn’t decide how I felt about it once I closed the cover. Maybe it was because the main character didn’t have enough compassion for me, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. It is on the eve of the trail that Tori Hershberger gets a random call, a rather cryptic call. Tori is currently on trial for having a hand in a teen suicide, internet bullying. So when she receives a call from a random person, Andy, saying he is going to drive off a cliff into the sunset to see no tomorrow she can’t help but think this is some kind of cosmic sign. Though she can’t tell if this a prank call, someone harassing her as they have been since Kevin Cooper’s suicide, and the news spread about her hand in the internet bullying. But something makes her stay on the phone; find out more about this random caller. As the story progressive to learn more and more of what happened online and why it was happening, but we were also learning about Tori, and how she has changed through the years.

Learning about Tori’s story and her hand in the situation, I felt no compassion towards her, she had no compassion towards the deceased. She was pissed she was going on trial for someone’s death; she couldn’t understand why she was put to blame when he’s the one that stole his own life. So it was hard for me to completely enjoy this book, but the overall story and lessons learned and lessons taught definitely made up for Tori’s lacking qualities.

If suicide is something that hits close to home, I wouldn’t read this, but if it doesn’t it’s definitely an interesting read. The overall story was good; it was a quick read, and a nice view into the repercussions of cyber bullying, any kind of bullying, more people need to see that bad things can happen, even if you’re “just joking around.”