Revolting Youth

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY OCT 2, 2000

Payne's self-published Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp became an underground sensation and garnered a youthful cult following for hero Nick Twisp, a linguistically precocious 14-year-old diarist. Later published by Doubleday, it has since sold more than 25,000 copies and is in development as a miniseries by MTV. In his latest adventure, Twisp, now independently wealthy as a result of his invention, the hugely successful "Wart Watch," is still disguised as Carlotta Ulansky, living in splendor with his maid, Mrs. Ferguson, and her son, Dwayne, and is once again attending high school in Ukiah, Calif. The deception is necessary because he is being pursued by the FBI for inadvertently burning down half of Berkeley. His girlfriend, the ever-luscious Sheeni Saunders, knows Carlotta's true identity and is accommodating her/his overactive hormones once or twice a week. The saga of teen angst and rebellion unfolds as before in Nick's first-person journal entries. Ever jealous of Sheeni's past flame, Trent Preston, Nick/Carlotta persuades Trent to elope with his present girlfriend, Apurva, to Mississippi, where 16-year-olds are allowed to marry. But Nick's triumph is short-lived. The FBI tracks him down, and he must once again skip town, ending up in Mexico, where he has plastic surgery and changes his identity. Going by the name of Rick S. Hunter, Nick runs into Sheeni in Baja, has an affair with her as Rick and discovers that she's pregnant with his baby. As in the previous volume, the plot becomes increasingly convoluted, but unlike its predecessor, this installment never catches fire. Nick's voice, although witty, seems less 14 than 40. Still, fans of the previous book will want to read this one, and cross-promotion with Payne's Frisco Pigeon Mambo (reviewed above) will help both titles.