Gripped: Part 2 by Stacy Padula is an impactful expansion of the Gripped series that offers new insights into the characters’ relationships and introduces new obstacles within their lives. The story starts and ends in the present day, but the majority of the story takes place a few months prior, giving the reader insight into what events led to current events. While middle and high school are challenging enough to get through sober, the teenagers of Montgomery manage to make it much more difficult for themselves by introducing hard drugs and alcohol to their day-to-day routine.  Similarly to Part 1, Part 2 focuses on themes of peer pressure and the damaging effects of substance abuse, but more specifically focuses on how one decision can lead to a chain reaction of issues that becomes too troubling to manage.

Developing the story from where it left off in Part 1, many of the characters are starting to experiment with pills, weed, and alcohol. However, since they are almost all teenagers, most of them in middle school even, they are not knowledgeable about what the effects of mixing uppers and downers could be. Characters such as Cathy begin taking pills like Xanax for an innocent reason such as calming her anxiety, but end up losing all emotions and ability to care about the situations she surrounds herself with. Then there’s Chris who almost overdoses and dies because he mixes vicodin, alcohol, and coke in one night in an attempt to let loose at a party. While none of the characters are purposely taking drugs to become an addict, they are quickly losing control and slipping further and further away from the version of themselves that we met in the very beginning of the series. Padula’s depiction of these characters does a successful job representing how so many addicts start out with pure intentions, yet lose sight of themselves along the way. 

Although the story begins innocently, Gripped: Part 2 faces many not-so-innocent conflicts. Numerous relationships fall apart, characters debate losing their virginity before they feel they’re ready, and athletic dreams are crushed in an instant. While some of these topics might be uncomfortable to read, they are all extremely realistic and are challenges that many are facing at ages younger and younger these days. Living in the age of social media, there are no teen-safe spaces on the internet anymore, meaning teens are exposed to more mature content earlier on than they maybe should be. Allowing teens to read a realistic series about such topics also allows them to read about the possible consequences of making poor choices, or even allows them to read what good choices some characters make in response to the bad ones. Gripped: Part 2 is a great learning opportunity for teenagers and is one that should be recommended. 

ABOUT EMILY MCDERMOTT

Emily is a recent graduate of  Bridgewater State University where she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in English with a concentration in Literature. While at Bridgewater State, Emily worked in the Academic Achievement Center as a writing consultant where she helped enrolled students with any stage of the writing process. Being in this position helped Emily realize that working as an editor might be something she could see herself doing as a career. Currently, she is employed for a small business in her hometown of Bridgewater, MA while actively searching for jobs within the publishing field. She spends most of her free time reading books, playing with her dogs Neely and Kevin, going on coffee runs with her friends, and watching the Bruins with her dad. 

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