We meet Dougie in Pete Hautman's novel "Invisible" and gradually enter his world. School is trying; he's not popular, but that's okay as long as everyone leaves him alone. He believes in focus, and intelligence, and he is devoted to his best friend Andy. The author does an excellent job of creating tension...the slowly dawning suspicion that not everything is right or as it seems. The dread continues to build until the stunning conclusion. I loved it while at the same time I found it faintly disturbing.

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I'm really surprised at how much I liked this. I checked Invisible out of the library on the recommendation of a librarians helper and once I got it home I really wasn't expecting to finish it, much less like it. My hope fell even lower when it dawned on me (on the first page) that trains are a big part of the book. I have no interest in trains if that needs to be said
So, I have this thing with not finishing books so I always give them my best shot and I'm glad I do because this is worth reading. I have to admit to being shocked at the whole Andy thing. I was on a totally different plane with that one. Somewhere in the first quarter I started smirking to myself, thinking I knew what was supposed to be learned later. But Hautman got one over on me. I'm still surprised at how interesting and well intigrated the aspect of trains were too.
The fact that Doug's "problems" weren't megaphoned out to the reader was exciting and it left it up to the reader to decide what was happening with him. The fact that it wasn't spelled out did a lot for the book I think.
I'm definitely going to check out Hautman's other titles. I'd certainly recommend this to young readers, male reluctant readers especially although I think females could relate to Doug just as well in a lot of cases. (my review - also on GoodReads)

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