Shock Point

by April Henry

Cassie discovers that her stepfather, Rick, a teen psychiatrist, has been illegally prescribing a new behavioral drug to his patients— and three teens have died. Before she can report him, Rick commits Cassie to Peaceful Cove, a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico. Cassie knows she has to get out now, before more teens die. But no one has ever escaped from Peaceful Cove alive, and even if Cassie gets over the walls and survives the Mexican desert, will anyone believe her story?

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Survival

204 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2006

About the author

I write mysteries and thrillers. I live in Portland, Oregon with my family.

If you've read one of my books, I would love to hear from you. Hearing from readers makes me eager to keep writing.

When I was 12, I sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He liked it so much he arranged to have it published in an international children's magazine.

My dream of writing went dormant until I was in my 30s, working at a corporate job, and started writing books on the side. Those first few years are now thankfully a blur. Now I'm very lucky to make a living doing what I love. I have written 27 novels for adults and teens, with more on the way. My books have been on the New York Times bestseller lists, gotten starred reviews, been picked for Booksense, translated into seven languages, been named to state reading lists, won the Anthony award and won the Oregon Book Award.

Reviews

[Ryan Meaney]

This was a great book. Finished it in 2 days. As I started to read, it was action packed and didn't stop until I closed the book. Hope there is a Shock Point 2!

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cassie is shocked when she is kidnapped right in front of her house and her mother and stepfather seem to be the ones who set it up. The real shock is when she gets to Mexico and finds herself at Peaceful Cove, a school for petulant teenagers. Cassie is immediately subjected to the harsh treatment at Peaceful Cove including little water and food as well as beatings and something called OP where offenders must lie on their stomachs on hard cement for days, weeks, or months at a time. Cassie realizes that her stepfather, Rick, wants her out of the way because she stumbled on proof that the experimental drug he is using on teens in his psychiatry practice has led to the death of three teens.

Shock Point does have lots of suspense but doesn't handle major plot points in realistic ways, and most of the characters in the story are very one dimensional. Supposedly the teens who graduate leave the school and go out and live normal lives. I had trouble believing that none of them ever raised a red flag about the school. Also, for a doctor who is supposed to be the mastermind of this plot, Rick leaves clues everywhere making it hard to understand how he was never caught before. It isn't clear in the story how Peaceful Cove acquires the funds to stay in business, especially since many of the students remain there for many years - one of the many mysteries in this story that remains unsolved. This is a very quick YA novel and for a young adult, these discrepancies might not be important, but as an adult, this story seems almost like a first draft in which details will be added later. Not recommended.

[ConfusedKyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a fantastic book! If you enjoy books that keep you on edge, you'll like this. I did think that the ending was a bit rushed and wish they would have described in more detail what was going on. But other then that, I liked how it ended and I loved the character development.

[Kasey.9220 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This by far was one of my favorite books. It had such interesting ways of including mass amounts of suspense, and the feeling of me always wanting to keep reading. I loved the book, but I didn't like that fact that the ending seemed rushed, wasn't that in detail like the rest of the book, and skipped major parts and moving on with out really writing them out but saying that the things have just happened. I would recommend this to any reader who wants a thrilling story and just an overall good book. I would rate it a four point five to a five.

[Sophia Batista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine coming home and being basically kidnapped and your parents are okay with it. Cassie from the book Shock Point by April Henry was in that position. I read this book because I love April Henry, she writes the best books ever even though there are other very good authors.
Cassie and her mom were happy together until her mom got remarried and got pregnant with her awful stepfather Rick. Rick has a medication shot called “Socom” that apparently makes “troubled teens” act right. Cassie tries to expose her stepfather with information she found but Rick finds out, plants crystal meth in her room and told her mom she used meth. They sent her to a camp that was completely awful, you will have to read it to find I out. The setting was the camp that was run down, they didn’t get real food, they didn’t get real beds, it was gross and so are the people. Cassie is the main character, she is so sweet and caring but also very smart, smarter than people think she is in Peaceful Cove. Her mother Jackie loves Cassie and wants the best for her but wants her husband Rick to have say in what Cassie does, so she is stuck. Rick is awful to Cassie and a horrible manipulative person. Haley is Cassie’s best friend who is not very smart but knows her way around things. Thatcher is Cassie’s friend, he’ vs smart and loves Cassie.
I love this book so much. The ending is very unexpected and awesome. Cassie got her life back in an unexpected way. I love how everything falls into place without meaning to really. My favorite part is when Cassie escapes because it is in a way that no one would expect and how smart she was about the whole part is unbelievable. You could really feel and imagine this whole book and I love that.
I really like this book because when you are reading the book you have no idea what is going to happen next. Absolutely everything in this book is unexpected. This book is so crazy and so good. The story plot is something I don't think anyone would have written. It dose make me think of her other books just because all her books are about girls in trouble in some way but they are all so different. I think anyone could and should read this. I would more recommend it to people who like, love, mystery and suspense. This book would be the book for you.

[Jessica]

Shock Point by April Henry is a mysterious yet eventful book that is sure to pull you in and make you want to keep reading and reading. 15 year old Cassie lives with her step-father and her mother, who's pregnant. Cassie is strong and ambitious. She only wants the truth to be revealed, even knowing what challenges her secretive step-father will lay for her to solve. Cassie arrives home one day to find a van she has not seen before parked outside her house. As she approaches, two men come out and grab her and take her away to a camp for teens. Cassie soon learns that the camp is more like a prison that she was sent to because her step-father planted drugs in her room and got her sent there to be dealt with. Cassie needs to find a way to escape before more kids are hurt, or worse, die. Shock Point is written in a way that lets you get an insight as to how each character is feeling and what's really going on inside the corruptness of their lives. I enjoyed reading this book because it was really intense and just kept getting better and better. The highlight for me was when Cassie pointed her step-fathers wrong doings out in front of everyone. Cassie and her friend buy special clothes and dress up like older adults, they go to her step-fathers conference and start asking questions about the drug he is suggesting people use, they end up revealing their information and he ends up in trouble. I learnt that not everything is as it seems at first. I would recommend this book to young adults because some things younger people may not understand.

[Aizlyn Ayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 stars because it gave good detail and since it wasn’t very long, there was a lot of detail put into it to make the story good. It did provide the detail fast and then the author moved on to the next thing very quickly, but you still were able to understand the point of the book. I would say this book is about middle school level, adults could read it, but it was very short and a lot of adults probably want to read bigger longer lasting books.

If you like a mystery kind of book, this one may be good for you. In this book, she was sent off to a “school”, but she wasn’t sure why. They said it was because of something in her room, but I don’t think that was the real reason. Her parents didn’t drive her to the “school”, she went by surprise and all she saw before she left was her stepdad hugging her mom and smiling at her. This book started off more in the middle of the story for the first chapter, and then it would go back and forth from day to day. Each chapter would change from before going to the “school” and during/after going to the “school”.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Shock Point was a good book. It is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Cassie Streng that finds out her stepfather is giving a highly experimental drug to his psychiatric patients. Cassies stepfather then sends her out to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico to keep her quiet. Overall I think it was a good book and would recommend it to someone else.

[Mackenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished second reread. Is a quick little thriller/mystery where the main character is kidnapped and sent to boarding school. Has many grammatical errors and the plot kind of follows that of a wattpad book. I would recommend this book to early high schoolers who could appreciate the book a bit more.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Great YA thriller!

[Isabel Huizar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book “Shock Point”, which I found very interesting. Right from the start I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading. There was never a dull moment with this book, it was full of action from the beginning to end. While reading this book I encountered a series of events that I would normally not expect in a book. It was very creative how the author came up with such an outstanding storyline. There was only one part of the story that was confusing. When you first start off the book you start off in the present. When you get to the next chapter you start your experience somewhere else and then when you go to the next chapter you go back to how everything first started. It’s two stories going on at the same time. One of the stories is how things were before and the other is how things are in the present, it was confusing at first because it was a sudden change of story. I then got used to it, but there was only one problem, which was that one of the stories was shorter than the other. Once the first story ended it went to the next chapter and it was still the same story. It wasn't confusing or anything I was just expecting the story to switch back. Other from that, I found this book to be very intriguing and is now one of my favorites.
This books straight off starts with action. The main character of the book, Cassie is starting off her day, getting ready for school. When walking out of her house she is kidnaped. While looking for help, Cassie sees her mother and feels relief to know that she is going to be saved. Only to be disappointed to find out that her mother and stepfather planned the whole scheme. Her mother explains to her that it’s for the best of her and that she is going to go to Peaceful Cove, a boot camp for kids with problems, but what problems is her mother talking about? Cassie is a perfect and innocent girl. Her mother then tells her that her stepfather found the hidden drugs in her room. Cassie soon realizes that her stepfather, a child psychiatrist planted the drugs in her room because Cassie was close to finding out that all the suicides that were happening in the community were because of him and his experimental behavioral drug.
I recommend this book to anyone because it is full of excitement and action on every page you see. This book is full of great detail that allows the reader to easily visualize every event. This aspect of the book creates an engaging and absorbing story that anyone will love. I would specifically recommend this book to someone that is looking for a unique thrill they have never encountered before. A reader that desires to be constantly surprised throughout the whole story. Overall this story is now one of my favorites and I highly encourage you to read it.

[Jamie Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shock Point written by April Henry is a mysterious and eventful book. It will remain one of my favorites because of it's intriguing characters and plot twists. It gives the reader a chance to feel sympathy and teaches one to be considerate. From the beginning to end, it showcased quick interesting moments which were crucial to every aspect in the story. It delivers different characters and different points of views on disastrous events.
The story was about Cassie, a teen whose parents were divorced and mother had married a shady teen psychiatrist who has been involved with an underage drug which resulted in teens committing suicide. As Cassie discovers his secret, Rick sends her to ‘Peaceful cove’, which wasn’t like how it sounds. It was the opposite. It was a nightmare and was threatening to be in. You would think that he would help others and make them feel better, but he was very suspicious. From the beginning, he wanted to portray himself as a good person, no matter how he made others look. Throughout the story, April Henry used flashbacks to allow us, readers, to understand how and why certain events occurred and to understand how the characters felt. She used transitions through chapters, meaning one chapter would be from the past and the next would be in the future. She unites them together, making the plot easier to understand. She quickly narrates the significant events but makes them simple to comprehend. The different characters, such as Cassie’s mom who was gullible and sensitive, and Rick who was corrupt, contributed to the events and different points of view in the story. Thatcher, who met Cassie in the beginning, was kind but very shy and quiet at first. He helped her and tried to publicize what Rick was doing. In some parts of the story, you can question whether or not anyone would believe Cassie and Thatcher. This taught me to hold onto hope, as Cassie did.
I definitely recommend this book because I believe it satisfies the reader in every way! It gives intriguing mystery and shows Cassie’s perseverance in the story. She gained hope, provided by other characters and shows the reader the meaning of being strong. It taught lessons in which the author developed throughout the story.

[Mackenzie Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Shock Point is about a teenage girl, Cassie, whose mom and father got a divorce. Her mother began to work for a man named Rick and they ended up getting married and he became her stepfather. Her stepfather is a conslor for teenage adilesonce. He trys to make Cassie's mom think she is bad and in with the "wrong crowd". He wants to send her away to a special school called Peaceful Cove and he tells her mother that it will be a wonderful place. I thought this book was a good suspenceful book. I liked this book because it kept me guessing. Yes, it met my expectations and my favorite part of the book was when she was in the van and trying to get her way out of going to Peaceful Cove. I choose this book because the review was good and it sounded very interesting.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was about a girl who tries to expose her step dad for hiding the problems his drug has, as hes trying to get it approved by the FDA. When he finds out, he has her sent away to a school/prison in Mexico. Then she decides she needs to escape. I liked it, I guess, it wasn't great but it wasn't bad. There was some adventure. "Cassie had decided that if it were the last thing she did, she would expose Rick and Peaceful Cove to the world." (Henry 97). It just shows her determination that she used to escape and get back home. I would recomend this to anyone that wants to read a short adventure story as that's what this book is. Girls will find some of the book easier to relate to.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have a YA shelf so I just placed this one on my other shelf. This however is definitely a YA book and something that parents can feel safe about having thier younger ones reading. Basically a girl finds out her step father may have some shady goings on with a new drug he is attempting to get marketed. When she begins to contemplate outing him she gets shipped off to a foreign boarding school. Once ther she must figure out first how to get out and second how to prove her allegations. The author does a decent job of telling a pretty good story within a fairly compressed number of pages. This does make some items, such as the ending, a bit rushed yet it all works in the end.

[Janette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great suspense. It was a fast paced, easy read that will make you never want to send your kid to one of those tough love camps. Unfortunately, I heard of a camp/prison in Samoa that was very much like the one described in the book. I even wondered if the author got the idea for the book because she'd heard of the same camp I had. It's sort of chilling to wonder how many there are out there.

[Asenath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once Cassie begins to be suspicious about her step fathers client's deaths, things start going bad. She is sent to a delinquent camp in Mexico where she can have to contact with anyone. The main reason this book was interesting was because of the changing viewpoints.

[Starry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good book.
The character is easy enough to relate to: Someone finding out a secret that the other person would kill to keep.
She isn't killed, but thrown into a jail in Mexico.
What will happen there? o:
Read to find out. XD

[Angelique Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shock point is an eye opener once you start to read t you wont want to put it down.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

My teen son and I enjoying this author's books.

[Brandi Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a really good book. It got really interesting from the beginning and those are books I like. It didn't take me long to finish. It is great for people who like scary books

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the very beginning of "Shock Point", it caught my attention and kept me enticed. The setting was located in Portland Oregon, a place that I have never been to, or know hardly anything about. Thus, I had to use quite a bit of imagination. I really enjoyed this read, and definitely would read it again. After I finished reading, I read the back of the inside cover and it uncovered that the author (April Henry) got the idea of this story from true events, which makes it even more enticing.

Cassie (the main character) was trapped between her step-father (Rick) giving not-yet-legal drugs to kids to make some extra cash and being sent to more or less a concentration camp where abuse was prevalent. Rick convinced her mother that she needed to go to an overseas boarding school after they found (what Rick planted in her room) crystal meth because Cassie was getting too close to exposing him. Cassie is beaten, starved, and told that her parents won't come for her because they don't care about her anymore at this "boarding school". She eventually finds her way around enough that she can escape. Overall, I gave this book 5/5 stars because it was so interesting and the little I did have in common with the main character, the more I was able to use my imagination for and I liked that a lot.

[Danny Amberg]

The book Shock Point by April Henry is about a girl who got “kidnapped”. The main character is a teenage girl whose name is Cassie. Cassie comes from a good family but her stepdad has never really liked her. Her stepdad is a doctor who is trying out a new drug he developed. Cassie and a friend discover what the drug really is and it's not good. They decide they need to tell someone but before they could get the evidence Cassie is sent off by her parents to some sort of prison thing. From there the book follows Cassie's journey. If you want to find out what happens with Cassie and the stepdad read the book. I am not a reader at all but this book never bored me it always kept me reading. I really enjoyed this book because what I thought was going to happen never happened. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who like to try and guess the ending of a book. My favorite character was Cassie because she was a teen and was very determined to figure out what was really going on. I want to be a cop so this book was very interesting because Cassie investigated a lot and never jumped to conclusions like a detective. The only thing I didn't like about the book was in the beginning the book jumps from past to the present and it was hard for me to follow. I would give this book a 7/10 only because in some parts it was confusing and others a little slow.

[Christina Getrost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thrilled to find an April Henry teen thriller I had never heard of; it's been out of print for a long time, so it was never one we read when considering her for author visits. But it was just recently made into an audiobook that yay, Libby has in the catalog! So, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Couldn't help comparing it to Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen, which has a similar starting premise--"wild" teen forcibly kidnapped and taken to a "camp" or "school" because parents at their wits' end. But whereas Wild Bird is about a teen who genuinely does drugs and acts out and needs the structure of the wilderness camp to break her habits and change her life, here, the girl is framed by her evil stepfather and sent away not to a legitimate camp but to a horrible institution operating in Mexico so that it can be above the law and kids can be abused. It was a tough read at times, because the school guards and "teachers" basically torture the teens. But that made her eventual escape all the more dramatic and nail-biting! Good suspense; a story of a soft girl finding her bravery and learning she can survive anything.

[Dlora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shock Point was recommended to me, well the author was recommended to me by my 12-year-old granddaughter. April Henry's stories remind me of the same kind of books I read by Lois Duncan years ago. A teenage thriller type plot that is well done and holds the attention of the intended audience, and we adults find them pretty entertaining too. In this book, Cassie's stepfather convinces her mom that for her own good, Cassie needs to be locked up in a "boot camp" for troubled teens in Mexico. Her controlling stepfather very believably sets her up and convinces the adults involved that it is the right thing to do. The boot camp is pretty horrific and Cassie's attempts to escape are good action. And to up the ante, not only is Cassie trying to save herself, she is trying to escape so she can expose the super behavioral drug that her stepfather is prescribing that actually caused suicide in several of Cassie's schoolmates. Talk about a good "bad guy" to hate in the novel.

[Madison.02 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. One part I didn't like though was the ending because they kind of rushed it. I loved that the author left us with cliffhangers at every chapter making us want to read more. Although I wish they would have added more after the surprise ending or would make a series out of these books. If this would have really happened in real life I would feel so bad for the person going through that. But I definitely recommend this book. I give it four out of five stars because the only reason is the rushed ending and I wish there were a few more things in detail. For example one minute she was in this place than in the next page she was in a different place and it was confusing. I believe I will end up reading this over again in a couple of years.

[Zachary Lorenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book shockpoint is a pretty decent book but the only problem i came across was how the author writes it. First off he put it in a past and present but he keep switching back and forth witch makes it confusing. Also the wording is pretty wierd and there wasnt much detail to what was going on. But on a good note the plot was nice and so for the setting. Also he never kept a consistent way to write the book because he would just switch at random points to go back to casies past. That didnt mae reading it fun at all because I would be getting lost of where we were and why it happened. But He did a good job on the characters and he got to the point. So overall I give this book a 3/5 star review.

[Brinn W]

The name of my book is shock point the author is april henry

In this book cassie is the main character she was getting very suspicious about this white van she has lived in her house for sixteen years and has never recognised that white van the white van was following her then some one grabbed her from the van and took her someone so threw the hole book she is at this place and she doesn't know where she is and after she figured out it was her stepfather .there was so many kids dying left and right in the book it was talking about how to get out of prison was to graduate

THis book is really good i really like it a lot of people that like mystery would like it.

[P.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cassie Streng is going to get some tough love. Not because she needs it but because she snooped through her stepfather's files and discovered he was involved in some shady business. Not only was his business shady but I assume that a licensed psychiatrist should not forge parents' signatures on consent forms for an experiment drug. So step-daddy extraordinaire frames Cassie for using crystal meth and convinces Cassie's mom to send Cassie to a boot camp in Mexico. What can Cassie do? This is an older book and I might have rated higher before COVID. Unfortunately, the very current and public dispute between science and pseudo-science may have affected my opinion.

[P.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cassie Streng is going to get some tough love. Not because she needs it but because she snooped through her stepfather's files and discovered he was involved in some shady business. Not only was his business shady but I assume that a licensed psychiatrist should not forge parents' signatures on consent forms for an experimental drug. So step-daddy extraordinaire frames Cassie for using crystal meth and convinces Cassie's mom to send Cassie to a boot camp in Mexico. What can Cassie do? This is an older book and I might have rated higher before COVID. Unfortunately, the very current and public dispute between science and pseudo-science may have affected my opinion.