When you're a kid, you take risks. Supposedly you take fewer of them when you get older... but in reality, the risks you take are simply more socially acceptable. 
 But every now and then, you hear about a dangerous trend that teenagers are embracing. This brings me to "Panic," Lauren Oliver's first non-fantasy/SF novel. Centering on the titular "game" that dominates the summer, this is a fast-paced, adventuresome little novel with pretty likable characters -- and dominated by the exciting feeling of a secret, dangerous sub-society. 
 In the small city of Carp, the teenagers have created Panic -- a potentially deadly game that is played for a fifty-grand cash prize. Every high school senior pays a dollar a day. And when the day arrives, anyone who wants to will participate in the first of the challenges: the Jump. The police try to threaten the teens into not participating, but nobody really cares. 
 This year, two impoverished kids are determined to win Panic -- scrawny Dodge, who wants revenge for the Panic challenge that left his sister crippled; and Heather, who wants to build a new life for herself and her sister. And so -- along with Nat's friends Bishop and pretty, selfish Nat -- they begin fulfilling the challenges. But the game is brutal, and the challenges aren't the only threat to the competitors... 
 Lauren Oliver is best known for writing fantasy and/or dystopian sci-fi, so it's worth noting that "Panic" is the first novel she's written that... well, is pretty much devoid of anything out of the ordinary. Well, except for the stuff the characters are doing as part of the game -- "Panic" sometimes feels like a present Hunger Games for a little blue-collar town. Or maybe a "Scorpio Races" minus the sea-horses. 
 But the real focus here is not on the game, or on a plausibly Evil Government... but on what the kids are doing this game to escape. Poverty, neglect, unemployment, disability, revenge, taking care of one's family members, and desperation to escape a tiny town with no real future -- that is what the real focus is, and what truly haunts the teenagers who take part in Panic. 
 And while she doesn't get too explicit about the poverty and struggles in Carp, Lauren Oliver does give you a feel for the desperation that these kids feel. Heather is a tough, capable heroine who seems to be sinking into her miserable life, unable to believe that things will improve. Dodge is a somewhat darker figure -- at first his only motivation is revenge, but gradually we see his genuine selflessness and caring for his friend. Nat is a pretty despicable, selfish character, though. 
 And since the whole story depends on a death-defying game, Oliver's writing has to capture adrenaline-fueled mayhem. She does that pretty well -- even when the kids are not doing the actual game, there's a feeling of tense unease and anarchy, running just under the ordinary things they're doing. And yes, there's some romance woven in there too, but it would have been roughly the same book without it. 
 Despite some vague similarities to the "Hunger Games" (there are kids, there's poverty, and there is a competition -- THAT'S ALL), "Panic" is a strong little standalone novel, with some solid characters and powerful writing.