Paper Towns by John Green

I love John Green and he just cannot write fast enough to please me, but Paper Towns was probably my least favorite of his books.

Quentin Jacobsen (aka "Q") and Margo Roth Spiegelman grew up next door to each other and shared a traumatic childhood experience. Now in high school, Q is a nerdy outcast and Margo is popular. They don't have much to do with each other until one night when Margo taps on Quentin's window and asks him to sneak off with his mother's van to drive her around. Margo is upset with a few people and the errands mostly involve pranks.

Q thinks they've had a great time and is hoping they can get their old friendship going, again, but then Margo disappears and it turns out she's run away from home. Q finds out she's run away several other times and always left clues. He thinks she might have dropped a hint or two and decides it's up to him to find Margo Roth Spiegelman before it's too late -- because he's not certain, but he thinks she's going to commit suicide, if she hasn't already.

Most of the book is about Q trying to untangle the mystery of Margo's disappearance with the help of his two friends -- one of whom is brilliant and the other kind of a hormonal dingbat -- but there's also a lot of talk about the prom and Q's friends trying to find dates while he tries to avoid the whole prom thing.

I don't even know what I expected to happen, but the ending was a combination of relief and let-down. The characters, dialogue and quirky scenes were typical, massively awesome John Green. This one just wasn't my favorite.

*******7/10 Twinkles