Rating: 
Summary: Severely Misjudged
Review: The bottom line is, this book is mediocre. Another "shocking" story of affluent teens done in by drugs, sex, sleaze, and violence. How many times have we seen this? Yet the done-before idea isn't the problem. The Count of Monte Cristo's plot had been written several times - Hamlet probably being the most famous. It's that the story by itself displays little wit, no charm, and above all, or maybe below, no originality. Nothing to make it better than the rest. The characters, as admitted by the author, blend together and are consequently as inseperable as Siamese twins. Their speech patterns and actions are one and the same. In the end, McDonell uses a plot technique most frequently employed by 3rd-8th graders, that is to say he kills everyone, which suggests either 1) Drugs will indirectly kill you, or 2) McDonell didn't know how to end it and took the easiest (some might say laziest) way out. I'll admit, #1 doesn't make much sense.
This book isn't terrific, but it isn't awful. It thrives in mundanity. To comment on the author's abilities, I will borrow a quote of Samuel Johnson's: A 17 year old writing a novel is like a dog walking on it's hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Rating: 
Summary: A Second Opinion.
Review: This book was good reading. In fact, I read it all in one sitting. I was able to identify with most of the characters and, as an urban 17 year old myself, I can honestly say that these characters aren't fake- people like that do exist. But sadly, it is hard for any writer to develop so many characters in 256 pages, though McDonell does give it the ole varsity try.
While I don't live in "The City," I was able to understand it through McDonell's writing. He threw out some beautiful images which were so obviously original, both in content and style, that it is hard to call his work cliched or hypocritical. By the by, I do not think that it is appropriate for a review to reveal the books ending... at least I'm glad that I read this book before I read cantbebothered's unfair review.
Rating: 
Summary: Hype over substance
Review: The most disturbing thing about this book is all the hype around it. Yes, the kid was just a teenager when he wrote it and that's definitely an accomplishment, but there is no way this book would've gotten published had it not been for all the industry connections he had. Morgan Entrekin, his publisher, and owner of Atlantic Books (Grove is owned by Atlantic), is also Mcdonell's godfather. I mean the book is okay, but there isn't really anything original here. There's no new voice of sorts and the content is old-hat teen druggie stuff, so I can't see how everyone's calling him the New Hunter Thompson, or the new B.E. Ellis. He hasn't had enough writing experience to pull off the hard-fought prose of those who have earned their merits.
Rating:
Summary: Less Than Zero Redux
Review: Before discussing this book it is important for this reviewer to acknowledge that at 18 years of age he would not have had the ability to create a novel of any coherence. That said, this book is not very good. It is not very good because we have seen it before. Adolescent angst against a backdrop of affluence and parental indifference. Boredom and privilege leading to drug use and loose sex. Hypocritical parents. Violence in urban settings contrasted with wealthy homes. Passages (helpfully italicized) building the protagonist's character through description of past emotional experiences in a detached inner voice. Does this sound like Less Than Zero or Bright Lights, Big City? You bet it does. Is this a product of publisher marketing hype? Yes. Is it easy to get Hunter Thompson to write a glowing blurb? Apparently so. And it is not very imaginative to simply kill the main characters in a blaze of Uzi fire at the end, although it does avoid having to make any more complicated resolution of affairs.
Rating: 
Summary: it's alright
Review: For a light-weight beach read, this book will fit the bit well. It's not exactly the best of reads, but I definitely recognized parts of my childhood in it. I suppose the book makes a lot more sense to someone who grew up in that environment. I thought the book was great, but my midwestern friends couldn't get into it at all.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting story concept, but still needs work
Review: I found this book completely by accident while browsing the bookshelf of a vacation home I rented while vacationing in Hawaii. I thought I would give it a try, but I was very disappointed. The good news, however, was that the story is a quick one (I finished it in around 3 to 4 hours). The plot tells of a rather interesting story, but the characters are poorly developed and everything is pretty much lacking in detail. In addition, I did not really care for the way the author told the story. He basically jumps from scene to scene with some scenes lasting only a paragraph or two. I've seen this work well in other literary works, but I felt that it did not lend itself well to this one. The book ends rather abruptly in a scene that makes very little sense and left me wondering why I picked the book up in the first place. Now, I realize that a very young author wrote this and it is his first published novel. I can see a lot of creativity there and I am sure that his future works will be much more polished.
Rating:
Summary: Believe the hype
Review: With wonderfully blunt descriptions and carefully formulated insights into the upper classes of the American society, characters and events are worryingly believable. In telling a story that everyone knew was happening but nobody wanted to admit, it may go on to be as revolutionary as 'The Catcher In the Rye' was in its day, and secure its deserved status as a cult classic of our time.
Like 'The Catcher...', people will formualte their own views on 'Twelve', and be they good or bad, they will surely prompt some sort of debate. You will love it or hate it, but either way, you have to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Not 11 but 12
Review: Nick has prose similiar to Ellis, but cannot compete (he was 17 a the time of publication) at his level just yet. Writing about rich kids that have drugs, guns, and endless amounts of money at their fingertips, Twelve allows the reader to see another side of upper Manhattan, a teen agers literal perspective if you will. A nice read for a first novel, look for better work to come from this young man.
Rating: 
Summary: A Stunning Debut
Review: Nick McDonell's first attempt at a novel, his expose on rich, drugg addicted New York teens, leaves the reader disturbed and satisfied with what they have just read.
The story follows White Mike, among others, during the holiday break of 1999 and into the New Year of 2000. Home from boarding school with Christmas cash to burn, the kids endulge in a new drug called 'twelve', sold exclusivly by White Mike. The book deals with what kids do for drugs, acceptance, love and friends. An instant classic.
Rating:
Summary: Twelve
Review: I read this book for College recently as it was pre-chosen for all in my year. I wasn't expecting much when I bought it after having read the different reviews but the book was easy to read and I had no problem to continue to read it.
However, there was an obvious lack of plot in the book. The ending was shockingly bad and I felt nothing when reading it except relief when it was finally over.
Another thing I couldn't help noticing was that the character development was very poor. Mike was the only one who was decently created but near the end the author makes him do something that felt very out of character for Mike and it was left unexplained.
If the author had given more thought to the ending, figured out a plot, removed some of the characters and worked more on them this book might have been much better. Given how much is lacking I am amazed that through most of the book I did not feel bored or eager to put it down (although I skipped most of the flashbacks, perhaps that's one reason ;)).
I don't regret reading it, but I would not recommend it either.
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