Another First Chance by Robbie Couch (review)

Reviewed by: Another First Chance by Robbie Couch Wesley Jacques Couch, Robbie Another First Chance. Simon, 2024 368p Trade ed. ISBN 9781665935302 19. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781665935326 10. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 7-11 River Lang spends his senior year mourning his best friend Dylan, who died tragically in a texting-and-driving accident that their small Michigan town commemorates—or exploits—with an obnoxious billboard. River vandalizes the billboard, then is blackmailed into joining an elaborate friendship-based science experiment to keep that fact a secret. The "Affinity Trials" take place in River's high school under the eye of graduate student Mentors and somehow also include Mavis, his former best friend and Dylan's ex-girlfriend, along with an assortment of other classmates. Everything about the Trials is ostensibly shady and unethical, from the unexplained disks participants must wear on their heads to the forced mystery surrounding what is even being tested, which contributes a suspenseful tone to an otherwise grounded story of complex grief. That is, until participants start having visions and River is paired up with non-participant Nash under questionable circumstances. Dylan's narration leading up to his death is interspersed throughout the story and provides additional context to River, Mavis, and Dylan's close-knit friend group developing into a queer love triangle by the time of his accident. The plot contrivances here are glaring, however, and the predictable reveal of the trials' nefarious manipulations shortchange a deeper exploration of the emotional relevance of emerging virtual technologies, a premise that is teased but feels sloppily executed in this quiet sci-fidrama. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois