I’m a sucker for creepy carnival stories. I love horror stories in general so when I was searching the internet for book similar to the TV show Buffy and some websites told me that this one is just the right book to read for every Buffy fan I was head over heels. Of course I had to read it. It sounded like everything I love about a good horror story. And Neal Shusterman didn’t disappoint. The book is about two teenage brothers, Blake and Quinn, who are polar opposites. Blake is the “nice” one; he’s the good guy, the one who gets good grades and is about to go off to Columbia University. Blake always sees himself responsible for his mother and his little brother; he takes care of them, wants to make sure they are okay while Quinn is the risk-taker. He’s the one with a million piercing in his face, although he’s only 13 years old. He always puts himself in danger because he likes the thrill. One night, Blake and Quinn go to a carnival with their friends Russ and Maggie, where Blake suddenly meets this very gorgeous and mysterious girl Cassandra. Cassandra hands him a weird index card with a strange symbol on it he’s never seen before. He finds out that it’s an invitation to a very special amusement park where you can only get in if you have one of those invitations. Late at night Blake wakes up from the screams of his mother when Quinn is found comatose on the floor. Blake soon figures out that Quinn’s soul is being held captive in that weird phantom carnival that girl named Cassandra gave him the invitation to. Quinn stole Blake’s invitation and went on his biggest adventure yet – straight into hell. So of course, since Blake feels responsible for his little brother, he asks his friends Russ and Maggie for help. They all go and try to find that phantom carnival Cassandra told him about and when they finally arrive and get in, they soon find out that the only way to save his brother and their own lives is to get through seven rides. It sounds easy at first except for that these are no normal rides. These rides turn your deepest fears against you and will do anything to make you give up. And if you give up and die on one of those rides, you stay there forever, either as part of the rides decoration or as one of the workers. Blake must get through all seven rides in order to save his brother and his own life. What a ride!!! Yes I admit, creepy carnivals are still clichéd. But this definitely isn’t one of those slasher-movie type stories. And no, there are also no scary clowns in it (just in case you are scared of clowns and were wondering if some of them show up throughout the book) When I read the synopsis I expected a fun and scary read but I’ve never expected this story to be as deep as it actually turned out to be. I’ve never read any of Neal Shusterman’s books before but after reading some reviews of his other books I realized that all of his books contain a special and very important message and so does this one. Full Tilt is quite psychological, because characters are faced with their worst fears and they all need to figure out, how to beat them. This story is about trauma, obsession, despair, guilt, anxiety and much more. When Blake was little he survived a bus crash in which everyone else was killed. So Blake’s fears are actually more complicated than scary clowns; he’s been suffering from his guilt ever since he was a kid; ever since the accident. He kind of blames himself that he is the only one who survived so when he enters the carnival and goes from ride to ride, he has to face some of his biggest fears, including the bus crash from many years ago. The rides were all kind of interesting, not as scary or creepy as I expected them to be. The most scary thing actually was the fact that everyone had to face their biggest fear and even though some of the rides didn’t seem scary to me they were scary to some of the characters and that thought actually gave me all the goosebumps. Just imagine you have to go on one of those rides. What is your biggest fear? My biggest fear is flying. I always get panic attacks when I have to get on an airplane so one of my rides would probably has anything to do with airplanes or flying, maybe even a plane crash or something. Although this might sound like nothing to most of you, I would be scared as hell and I’m not sure if I’d be able to face that fear and to beat it. So yes, even though there weren’t any scary clowns or monsters or whatever in this book, it freaked me out because all the fears the characters had to face was terrible. The characters were absolutely fascinating, all of them: Blake, Quinn, Russ, Maggie and the mysterious Cassandra. Blake, Quinn, Russ and Maggie all have different fears that make them believable characters and actually real people. Cassandra, the evil spirit, is really creepy. She wants to keep all the souls trapped in her world because without them her world wouldn’t even exist so every time she tries to lure people with her beauty and her mysterious aura to make them come to her amusement park because she knows for sure that no one will ever be able to beat all seven rides they have to go through in order to escape that madness. Once in a while the author throws every character into a desperate situation, where they’ll do anything to get out, even though it seems impossible at times. Sometimes they give up, sometimes they find their strength to fight and to beat their own fears and this is what makes this whole story so interesting. This is not just some horror story, it’s so much more. It’s filled with interesting and fascinating characters, with a great storyline, some fun, adventurous carnival rides and combined with Neal Shusterman’s writing this is just one brilliant book which I absolutely loved. “They say you never know who's the real hero and who's the real coward until you're looking death in the face. I've always been afraid of plenty of things, but fear isn't what makes you a coward. It's how depraved your heart becomes when fear gets pumped through it.” Full Tilt is an adventure filled book; a wild rollercoaster ride packed with twists and turns and thrills and ups and downs and although it took me a few days to read it (adulating just sucks) I couldn’t put it down whenever I picked it up to read it. I enjoyed the book best while reading it at night because it gave me all the creeps. I loved seeing all the different fears the different characters had to face. I absolutely loved the book; I had so much fun reading it and whenever one ride was over I couldn’t wait to see what the next ride was and what kind of people Blake was going to meet. Sometimes I just wished for it to be a tad bit creepier.