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This was intense. The format that Ellen Hopkins wrote this in was well done for the content. Ellen Hopkins had a daughter to pull from for inspiration for this which breaks my heart for her. I love that she was able to pull herself out of the equation enough to make things seem real for Kristina/Bree and her relationship with her parents.

I have someone close to me who, at one point, had a split in their personality due to drug use, Meth, and other things at the time. It was the craziest thing that I have ever experienced. This person was still this person, but they even talked to me in lingo and an accent they would have never normally used. As far as I can tell from speaking to them about it years later, although it is a delicate subject, I am 99% sure that they have zero memory of these other personality moments. So the split in personalities, mainly due to brain-altering substances, has always fascinated me. In another life, I am a psychotherapist or some similar field.

In Crank, Kristina does not remember much of what happens when Bree takes over, but she IS aware of the effects and acknowledges when Bree comes out to play. I went with the audio version, so in the beginning, I was a bit confused about whether or not there were additional personalities. Still, these didn't come back out after leaving Albuquerque, so I wasn't sure if I was misinterpreting a chaotic moment. Overall, Laura Flanagan was an excellent pick for the narrator, as I think she was able to capture the mind of Kristina/Bree truly. She shone spectacularly in the first half of the book during the Albuquerque moments and in showing the mindset of the age with her inflections and tones.

The return home to Reno was a lot weaker in terms of story-telling, but I was still interested, and there were more horrific events and struggles for what Kristina/Bree would go to for her fix for the "monster," as she dubs her drug of choice. The ability to switch at convenience at times was a bit harder to wrap my mind around, as this is not impossible but extremely uncommon in splits. The ending felt a bit too neat. But I will be continuing with the story. I watched the movie several times over a decade ago, but I was still trying to connect how that and this matched up. Perhaps the rest of the series will show a better connection; maybe there will be different characters in play. I love the uniqueness, though.

4 Solid stars from me. I was hooked and emotionally invested. My mom heart is hugging Ellen Hopkins.