Expelled by James Patterson and Emily Raymond

Author: James Patterson & Emily Raymond

Publisher:  Little Brown and Company

Date of publication: October 2017

A secret Twitter account
An anonymous photo
Everyone is a suspect 

Will Foster's Twitter account used to be anonymous--until someone posted The Photo that got him and three other students expelled, their futures ruined forever. But who took the picture, and why are they being targeted?

To uncover the truth, Will gets close to the suspects: the hacker, the quarterback, the bad girl, the class clown, the vice principal, and...his own best friend. What secrets are they hiding, and even worse--what do they know about each other? The terrible truth will haunt them forever.

New York Times bestselling author James Patterson brings us another fast-moving tale of suspense, with danger, romance, and twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the very last page

Have you ever read a book that you found yourself enjoying only to come to an ending that made you say, "WTF?"?  Well, Expelled was one oft those books for me.  This review will probably get a bit spoilery, so if  you try to avoid spoilers, you might want to skip reading this.

The story focuses on Will, who was unjustly expelled from school for the rest of his Junior year for something he swears he didn't do.  After some investigating,, he finds 3 other students who were expelled for sketchy reasons as well.  He sets out to figure out who set him and his friends up in order to get back into the school's good graces.  Graduating on time and with a clean record is the only way he can get out of the town he hates. This was the part that I really liked about the book. The mystery of what happened was engaging.  I found myself rooting for Will to figure it all out.  I liked his character overall as well as the other characters in the book.

The book would have been really enjoyable if it had ended right before Sasha reveals her secret to Will.  The revelation of ongoing incest with her father came completely out of nowhere and was highly unnecessary to the entire plot.  I have to wonder what made the authors say, "Yeah, that fits.".  Because it didn't.  Not even remotely.   Then in the epilogue, the subject is dealt with as almost an afterthought. So, this issue made me lower the rating I gave the book.  

I would recommend the book up until Sasha starts talking to Will about her secret.  You can honestly skip that whole section and not lose anything from the book.  I would caution parents to letting anyone under 16 read this one.  Just for that aspect alone.