Shades of Simon Gray

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Summary: Shades Of Simon Gray
Review: I didn't find this book to be very interesting. Mind you, I'm only halfway through. But given the fact that I bought the book and started reading it at the beginning of August (2003) and it now being the end of March (2004) and I've only gotten to about chapter four, and have also read numerous other books in the time between - this book was definetly not for me. Sure, the author has a good style of writing, a good way of describing things, and all that. But to me, it just wasn't appealing. I can't say nothing major happened, but just the way everything worked out around what happened, it wasn't exciting...

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Summary: It asks you to think...
Review: I love this story. I've read it 3 times. It's about choices (good and bad) and the prices we're willing to pay to get what we want. It doesn't offer any easy answers. It asks you to think about the choices made by these characters and the ones you yourself make. The fantasy/horror elements just make the story more enjoyable for me.

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Summary: Shades of Simon Gray
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book because there was never a dull moment. It was also a challenge with the constant change of perspective between each of the four main characters. McDonald kept the suspense high throughout the novel, keeping you guessing until the very last page about what might happen next. Many of the events that took place were closely related to my own life as a teenager, because everyday I face the same problems that each of these four students faced while nearing the end of high school and beginning life on their own. This book is directed toward young adults, but would be an awesome book to read at any age, inspiring the young and the old to find truth within themselves.

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Summary: Em's Review
Review: Shades of Simon Gray was the best book i ever read! I started it a year ago but then lost my copy of the book. I've not been able to finish it till now, and it was worth the wait. :-) I found the mystrey and lies made the book unable to be put down. SImon and his "friends" were careful about covering everything up about the project, Simons coma vistings fed the story to something bigger. It was the greatest book to read.My little sister (age 10) is now reading it to my little brother (age 7). everyone in my family has read it from age 40 to 7 We all love it.

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Summary: SHADES OF SIMON GRAY is brilliant.
Review: The peepers are everywhere, little frogs descending on Bellehaven by the thousands like some early sign of the Apocalypse. As Simon Gray drives home one blisteringly hot night, he squashes millions of them, their blood making the road slick and dangerous. Of course he has an accident --- someone was bound to have one sooner or later. As Simon lies in the hospital in a coma, secrets begin to unfold. Simon was the brain behind a computer hacking operation that enabled Devin, Kyle and Danny to get advance copies of their tests. Before the accident, Simon had done and said things that disturbed his best friend, Liz. Those who didn't know Simon Gray thought he was perfect.

SHADES OF SIMON GRAY is a brilliant combination of mystery, fantasy, history and gritty realism. This is a book that doesn't let up for a minute, pulling the reader in with a fast-paced blend of past and present. Love mysteries? Hate mysteries? It doesn't matter. Simon Gray will intrigue everyone and keep the reader guessing as to what will happen next. There's even an element of the supernatural, with Simon leaving his comatose body to walk through the town, discovering the truth behind a centuries-old murder. Why are the police involved with Simon's accident? What do the strange weather and the sudden appearance of crows have to do with him? None of the pieces add up...or do they?

--- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft


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Summary: Jump into Simon's world with Shades of Simon Gray.
Review: West Nile Virus, plagues of frogs and crows and horrid heat, and a secret cheating ring, all in a quiet little town called Bellehaven, where, 200 years ago, an innocent man named Jessup Wildemere was hanged without a trial.

At the center of all this is Simon Gray, for whom the book is named. At the beginning of the book, Simon crashes his car into the Liberty Tree, where Jessup Wildemere was hung. Was it an accident caused by the frogs all over the road, or a suicide attempt? No one believes it was a suicide attempt, after all, Simon is a "good boy".

Either way, Simon lies in a coma, and his family and the cheating ring to which he, as the hacker, is key, nervously watch as Simon clings to life.

His family includes his sister and his father. His mother died a while back---since then, his sister has begun smoking marijuana to ease the pain, while Simon has kept it all inside, though he sometimes thinks he sees her ghost.

The cheating ring is composed of 3 other people, including Devin, a girl Simon's secretly in love with, and the reason he even decided to help them get test answers off the school database. Unfortunately, Devin is the girlfriend of another one of the people in the cheating ring.

The cheating ring is under suspicion, and police come to Simon's house and take away his computer for investigation.

Meanwhile, Simon, in a coma, experiences an out-of-body experience, during which he talks with Jessup Wildermere. Simon finds out that Jessup is not unlike him, in love with someone who doesn't love him back. Simon finds out what truly happened to Jessup, and is shocked by what he finds.

This book was very touching, a little spooky, and a great peek into the mind of a troubled social outcast and goody-goody. It also really made me think about how often we get the facts wrong, and what permanent effects that can have on people's lives.

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Summary: Shades of Simon Gray
Review: Young or old, Shades of Simon Gray is a book everyone can enjoy. Shades of Simon Gray is a captivating story that will keep you in suspense and guessing till the end.

Secrets and lies finally catch up to four young students. As three friends struggle to keep their sectret "project" under wraps, a secret that could keep them out of any college, the mastermind of the project struggles for his life. Now in the hands of the police, what will become of the "project" and the four teenage students?

Exciting and suspenseful, this book will keep you guessing till the end!