This book was given to me as a gift by a friend who had taken quite a bit of time to select "the perfect read". Thus, I felt somewhat obligated to finish the book. If it were not for that, I would have put it down after the first 30 pages. The plot seemed contrived and implausible. The characters were not very well developed, with the sole exception of the protagonist (whom I found to be naive, selfish, spoiled and self-destructively impulsive). The dialogue was at times witty, at other times downright annoying. I was especially bothered by the repeated use throughout the book, by almost all the characters, of the comeback: "Funny!" or "You're so funny!" or "That's not funny!" However, in all fairness to the author, while I fault him for a lack of craft, I have to compliment him on his clear and crisp use of the English language.