S. A. Bodeen can usually be relied upon to write a solid thriller. I enjoyed both The Compound and its sequel as well as The Raft. She writes books with great hooks and fast-moving plots that pull you in immediately. Her latest, The Detour, doesn’t quite measure up, I think – but it should still satisfy readers looking for some thrills.

Livvy Flynn is a teenage phenomenon. She published her first book while in high school and it was a huge hit. It’s earned her buckets of money and lots of fame, but she’s totally oblivious to how unusual this is. In fact, she looks down on other aspiring writers – especially those older than her, so basically all of them – and generally thinks they’re total failures. She’s the unlikable protagonist in a nutshell. When she’s invited to a writer’s conference to speak, she accepts and figures it will be a breeze. On her way, though, she’s in a car wreck. And when she wakes up, she’s not in the hospital – she’s in some strange woman’s house, tied to a bed. It quickly becomes clear that this woman has it in for Livvy Flynn.

There’s more than a passing resemblance of Stephen King’s Misery in The Detour, though the woman’s reasons for keeping Livvy captive are somewhat different. Bodeen acknowledges the similarity, since Livvy herself is familiar with King’s book. Like in Misery, the woman in The Detour does all sorts of horrible things to Livvy. She also has a daughter who may be even worse.

So, why is this one not as strong as Bodeen’s others? It’s not the unlikability of the protagonist, which I’m sure some reviewers will point to. In fact, Livvy does experience some growth as a person, and her ordeal brings out some buried insecurities that shed a lot of light on why she is the way she is. Instead, I had problems with the way some of the events played out; it was difficult to understand why Livvy didn’t figure some things out much, much sooner. There’s a secret with a boyfriend that’s glaringly obvious but isn’t revealed to Livvy herself until the last chapter. Bodeen doesn’t seem to expect that her readers can connect the dots unless they’re hinted at quite forcefully, and the plot suffers. Suspension of disbelief is also a problem. At one point, a police officer stumbles into the house but doesn’t do anything about the girl who has clearly been kidnapped and tortured – and Livvy is completely understanding of it in the end (there is no good explanation for his behavior). I don’t know which part of that I had a harder time believing, that he did nothing or that Livvy was fine with it.

Despite the flaws, this may be a good one to hand to teens who just can’t get enough of thrillers, particularly those that don’t veer into mystery territory. It’s also interesting if you don’t know much about the publishing industry, since things like average amounts of advances and sales figures are discussed a bit (and by extension just how unusual Livvy’s situation is).

Review copy received from the publisher. The Detour will be published October 6.