Running away with your lover sounds like an ideal plan. However, outstanding author, Kristine Scarrow teaches readers that the utopia of having a perfect life with your significant other secretly is not what it seems like. Scarrow informs us of this issue in the phenomenal novel, The 11th Hour. The book revolves around the teenager main character, Annika Dietty, who ran away from home with her boyfriend, the popular and charming Dylan. The 11th Hour pulls you in with its intense scenes that will force you to stay awake, not wanting to sleep for fear that the characters will not make it through the night. This book is the perfect combination of romance, reality, a bit of horror, and poignancy.

The author’s purpose for this book was to show readers that although you may think you’re doing the right thing by escaping with the “love of your life,” 90% of the time, it doesn’t end up the way you expect. Most teens run away with their significant others, hoping for a fairytale life, but that is usually not the case. This message was conveyed very clearly and by the end of the book, you realize you shouldn’t flee with a stranger. As Annika and Dylan go on their journey to live together freely, red flags appear as soon as they hit the road. When they arrive at the cabin that Dylan claims to be his, things immediately take a dark and ugly turn. The 11th Hour was written from a teenager’s point of view and the book alters perspectives every chapter. For example, if one chapter is from Annika’s point of view, the next one would be from Dylan’s point of view. Both characters are teens and as a writer and reader, being able to access the characters’ thoughts is a great strategy to make the book even more interesting.

    Kristine Scarrow carefully chose her vocabulary and words to express the scenarios, in order to establish the important message and dark mood of the story. This style is an effective way to express the author’s and characters’ thoughts. This novel is the kind of book you would walk around the hall with, bumping into the fire extinguishers. There is a gravitational force within the pages of The 11th Hour that pulls you into it. The intended audience for this book was adolescents because the theme affects this age group and the story addresses teenagers. Therefore, the audience circles around the age of 12-16 years.

    I was affected by the book because I am 13 years old as well. This book definitely educated me on why not to run away and I understand the consequences. Although those thoughts never occurred to me, the intended message still matters. This leads to Scarrow’s aim. Her goal was to show teenagers the consequences of running away, and she establishes why not to escape, through her attention-grabbing scenarios. This target was certainly met because when you finish reading the book, you understand why fleeing from your family is not a good idea, and that you should avoid it at all costs.

    The author treated the main conflict in a very realistic way, and she took it seriously. As a reader, you can see that Scarrow is not joking about the issue. I perceived this in a positive way because it’s good that the author is not fooling around with the topic. The book definitely suited its audience because it conveyed to teenagers not to run away from home with their boyfriend. Scarrow makes the scenarios and events interesting by adding a lot of suspense and thoroughly describing them. For example, “My heart is pounding knowing that Annika will have to slip out undetected for this to work. I pull out my phone to text her and let her know I’m here. It’s go time” (Scarrow 18). This chapter was from Dylan’s perspective and it was the concluding line of the chapter. This quote shows the tension that takes place in the book, and this is also an example of the gravitational force within the suspenseful pages of The 11th Hour.

    The 11th Hour was an incredible realistic fiction novel. I recommend it to all readers above the age of 12 that are ready to stay awake all night, obsessing over the characters that take over this book. You will not regret it!