HAPPYHEAD

Being selected for the HappyHead Project seems like the best way forward for struggling teen Sebastian Seaton.

Between anxiety, bullying, and being closeted, Seb has a lot to deal with. So when he’s selected to join the HappyHead Project, a brand-new retreat in the Scottish wilderness for struggling teens like him that claims to have the answer for the epidemic of teenage unhappiness, his family is ecstatic. But Seb has a bad feeling about HappyHead—what kind of researcher wants 100 17-year-olds to isolate themselves from their friends, families, and phones for two weeks? Despite his misgivings, Seb decides to participate, trying his best to genuinely focus on self-improvement and make his family proud. Almost immediately, though, something seems off about the place—and things just get weirder from there. Can Seb overcome his fear and discomfort to achieve true happiness, or is there indeed something sinister lurking beneath HappyHead’s positive exterior? Silver’s debut addresses relevant, very real questions about life in the digital age: Mental health, peer pressure, and the exploration of what happiness really means are at the core of this novel. Some pacing issues detract from the intriguing premise, and the sudden ending will leave readers hanging until the next series entry. Sebastian and other leads present white; contextual cues point to racial diversity in the rest of the cast.

Surprisingly dark and twisty: a solid, character-driven dystopian thriller weakened by an abrupt ending.