I've finished it, I enjoyed it, I wanted to find out what happened but...on the whole I was just a bit disappointed; it seemed to promise more than it actually delivered in terms of plot and characters. A few chapters in, I could just sense how it was going to develop and then it did!
I was expecting some more twists or complications and I'm afraid there weren't any. At times the writing was very funny, loved the descriptions of the lunch ladder menus. At times it was a bit lazy, especially cuing up the type of people they were by vehicle at the car boot...
In the end I was a bit irritated by the power the followers let the leaders have over them, I'm not sure it is ever quite so obvious in the school communities I've been in, there are more nuances than those captured here. In fact the characterisation became annoying, like caricatures as the book progressed!
The end fell a bit flat, almost a farcical note I felt. I did want to find out what happened to them all but I was rather annoyed with all of them by the end!
It is a very light summer read; you'll recognise some of the characters and some of the school situations but it won't "take " you anywhere in your imagination, or make you think more deeply about anything at all.
It felt like a good story was wanting to emerge, but didn't quite...or maybe my expectations were too high for the market this is pitched at? I think I thought it would be Joanna Trollope type of social observation, but it wasn't anywhere near as skilled.
Good idea which lost its impetus somewhere.
Thanks for the chance to read it though! 