DEAD HAPPY

HappyHead was anything but a happy place.

Seb’s acceptance into the HappyHead program in the first series entry was supposed to be a positive turning point in the life of a struggling teen boy. But after HappyHead was revealed to be only the first phase in a larger scheme to eliminate unhappiness through selective population control, Seb was whisked away, with the other top-rated teens who make up the Ten, to the Scottish island of Elmhallow. Seb was aware that those in charge were hiding sinister motives, but he knew he had no choice but to participate if he was going to make it out alive. Now, beyond staying alive, he also hopes to find Finn, the boy he fell for at HappyHead who wasn’t chosen to go to Elmhallow. Seb, who’s gay, works with Eleanor, the girl he’s been paired with as his perfect match, and they try to prove themselves in a series of increasingly dangerous trials. Elmhallow pushes Seb, who’s cued white, and the other members of the Ten, who are racially diverse, to their physical and mental limits—but it also offers their only chance of survival. This page-turning novel ups the ante on its dystopian world. While still centering on themes of mental health and happiness in the digital age, this sequel raises the stakes with explorations of eugenics and just how far people will go to be happy.

A thrilling sequel that brings this duology to a satisfying conclusion.