Just In Case by Meg Rosoff

Every minute of every day, a million things happen...

The day David Case saves his brother's life, his whole world changes. Suddenly, every moment is fizzing with what ifs, and it's up to David to outwit fate. Or try to.

He changes his name and the way he looks. He leaves home and finds himself caught up in a series of strange and extraordinary misadventures. He even falls in love. 

But is David really in control of his life? And if he isn't - who is?

Star Rating

Having read and loved 'How I live Now' by Meg Rosoff I thought I would pick up another of her YA titles at my local charity bookstore. It is unlike me to leave a bad review, mainly because if I dislike a book I won't read it through to the end. This book I did persevere with however, unfortunately, I wish I hadn't.

In short, this book was just plain weird! At the beginning of the story, David saves his baby brother from falling out a window. Following this incident, David is overcome with anxiety and begins worrying about every tiny aspect of his life. 

'There were dark corners he didn't dare enter, creaking catacombs lined with the corpses of doubt.'

Filled with anxiety, David decides to change his name and, consequently, life itself. It is from this point on that the story became very strange for me, and not in a good way. 

For example, David, now known as Justin Case (awful pun), meets an older woman at a charity store who clothes him in a bizarre vintage outfit and takes numerous photographs of him. Next we learn that David, (Justin) has an imaginary greyhound that follows him everywhere. Riiiight! If this wasn't weird enough, David  then leaves home to try and avoid fate (who has been leaving the reader cryptic messages throughout). Randomly hanging out at the airport, David avoids fate once more when he manages to survive a plane crash. No he wasn't actually on board a plane, just chilling in the terminal when a plane crashes through the roof. Yep, you heard right. A plane crashes through the roof and David avoids death by merely stepping out the way. 

I could carry on but I won't. I kind of understand what Meg Rosoff was trying to do with this book and it does give some kind of insight into mental health. Although anxiety is more prevalent in girls than boys it was interesting to read it from a boy's perspective and the bizarre plot makes you realise that the mind is a powerful thing that can take control of your entire being. 

Meg Rosoff quotes, 'Peter couldn't imagine life with a brain so peculiarly wired, but it made compulsive viewing.' and this sums up my feelings towards this book. Peculiarly wired but, unfortunately, not compulsive reading!