The Takedown by Corrie Wang Pages: 384
Published by Freeform on April 11, 2017
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: eARC from Publisher
Kyla Cheng doesn't expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn't need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she's president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don't just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular. Kyla's even managed to make it through high school completely unscathed.
Until someone takes issue with this arrangement.
A week before college applications are due, a video of Kyla "doing it" with her crush-worthy English teacher is uploaded to her school's website. It instantly goes viral, but here's the thing: it's not Kyla in the video. With time running out, Kyla delves into a world of hackers, haters and creepy stalkers in an attempt to do the impossible-take something off the internet-all while dealing with the fallout from her own karmic footprint.
Set in near-future Brooklyn, where privacy is a bygone luxury and every perfect profile masks damning secrets, The Takedown is a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit, asking who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?
The Takedown is the debut novel of author Corrie Wang. The Takedown is a young adult contemporary novel that had kind of a Pretty Little Liars/mean girls vibe to it. I really enjoyed this book. I love that FreeForm now has a line of young adult titles. The books are a lot like their tv shows- fast paced, addictive, dramatic, and totally engaging. The Takedown feels like something that could happen in real life, as scary as that is. The book takes place in the not so distant future and it asks the question, “who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?” And honestly, I have no idea. The idea kind of terrifies me. Either way, I was totally hooked on this book. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t stop reading.
The thing that I found the most fascinating about The Takedown was actually the characters. The characters in this book are not your typical characters. At least, they didn’t feel like that to me. Some of them were likable, and some of them were total jerks. But even the jerky characters worked for me. (which is not always the case. normally I hate a character= I write them off. But in this book, I found myself wondering and strangely attached to all of the girls, even the mean ones.) I found myself particularly attached to Kyla. She is super complex and interesting, and I have no idea what I would have done if I were put in her position.
Kyle embarks to solve the mystery of who is putting up falisfied videos featuring her. The Takedown is a mystery novel that you will not be able to put down. I couldn’t rest until I figured out just what the heck was going on. Corrie Wang did an excellent job with the plot and the writing. And the characters. Heck, she did an awesome job all the way around. The Takedown is a book that felt very fresh and very timely. I know it is set in the future, but the realness of the situation added a creepy fatcor to the story that half terrified me and half fascinated me while I was reading it. I couldn’t put this book down. If you like mysteries and you like books that tweak the current state of our technologically plugged in to social media lives, you will love The Takedown.
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About Corrie Wang
Corrie Wang is passionate about libraries, road trips, and eating all the food, everywhere. Corrie grew up in Buffalo but spent her formative years in Brooklyn, where one of her last paying gigs was managing a three-story nightclub on the Lower East Side.
She currently lives in Charleston, where she and her husband Shuai Wang own and operate Short Grain food truck— named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants 2016 and a 2017 semi-finalist for a James Beard Award. The Takedown is Corrie’s debut novel.
And fyi it’s pronounced Wong y’all.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
This sounds really good! I love that even the mean characters are relatable, and that you didn’t feel like pushing them aside, and that the story was well done. You definitely got me very intrigued!
Great review 🙂
Have a terrific Thursday and happy reading.
Chelsea Hunter
I love the cover of this book so much!
Sam
I have been looking at this one, and it sounds like it would be a great add for my Debut Authors Reading Challenge. I could use more mystery in my life. Great review!
Sam @ WLABB
Anita Yancey
The book sounds amazing, and I love the cover.
Kathy Ross
I have to say that your book sounds very good and I hope to get a chance to read it!
Greg
I just saw this one on another blog recently! It looks like a good read, and I didn’t know Freeform had a book line! I do love mysteries and I like ones that deal with social media as well, so I should probably get this one. And nice that the characters are so well done, if the author can take the stereotypical mean girls and make them complex and relatable, that’s pretty awesome. Great review Michelle!
Autumn
Wait, Freeform makes books now!! That’s awesome and this book sounds really fresh and interesting.