He's After Me Review

Title: He’s After Me

Author: Chris Higgins

Release Date: 7^th July 2011

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

Anna meets Jem when her life is falling apart. And he’s everything Anna needs him to be. As long as she has Jem, she knows everything will be OK.

But Anna’s about to find out that not all love stories have a happy ending.

The book has a very eerie opening. Within the first chapter, you will be hooked! The main character, Anna and her sister, Livi, are really enticing. But BEWARE - the content as well as the language all suggest an older teen audience and the novel is very dark at times. Despite this (or because of it) Chris Higgins has really managed to capture the intensity of teen love.

Written from Anna’s point of view, her character is really easy to relate to as she experiences the confusion of puberty alongside her parent’s separation. She often feels alone and insecure and yet Jem offers her everything she needs. Her emotions are really convincing and accurate, often conflicting as she tries to deal with how she feels about each character. As a young woman she throws herself into her relationship in order to escape everything else but it only leaves her feeling more isolated. It is difficult to separate love and life for her (as intense relationships usually feel) and even when things come to a head, she finds she still wants to make excuses for Jem and trust him ultimately. Despite his ‘bad boy’ attitude, Anna wants him, at times, needs him and begins to be absorbed by his personality. I felt really drawn in by her character as she tries to deal with everything, including the overwhelming desire to spend every waking moment with Jem. The novel in this sense almost feels like a warning- it is so easy to abandon your friends and family and lose who you really are when you think you’ve found love, Anna even begins to change her future plans of University study because Jem wants them to be together but realises this isn’t what she really wants.

Throughout the novel, it becomes apparent that Jem is not all he seems and an insight into his thoughts at the beginning of some chapters definitely keeps you intrigued. These little snippets help you understand how he feels, his emotions just as intense as Anna’s. From these dual points of view, at times the plot seems like a murder mystery as you try to piece together what is actually going on and who is telling the truth.

Without spoiling the ending, it is definitely unexpected, changing the tone, pace and in fact the entire novel in the last chapter, although there are subtle hints, it is a real shocker! A lot of questions were left unanswered and the ending is exciting and climactic.

I found the cover art really appropriate and this made me want to read the book. There are a few humorous elements within the novel but it is very dark and quite powerful in the way it handles obsessive love and teen emotions – unputdownable! 

4.5/5

Special thanks to Hodder Children's Books for sending me a copy of the book.