(Very little of this plot point makes much sense.) In doing so, Zak is forced to miss out on Washingcon, his favorite sci-fi fan convention, which he hasn’t missed in years for an outcast like Zak, it’s the place where he fits in, and for a few days at least, has the opportunity to rise to a place of stratospheric popularity. Ana is a grades-minded over-achiever, while Zak is a too-smart-for-his-own-good gaming-obsessed slacker as Ana prepares for an academic competition, Zak gets himself into trouble, and must pay penance by joining the team. Zak and Ana go to the same high school, but have nothing in common, and only really know each other to see each other. The novel is told in an alternating dual first person perspective, meaning one chapter is from Zak’s point-of-view, and the next is from Ana’s.

Further down the road, unfortunately, they also become less and less understandable making decisions that, frankly, defy all degrees of logic, in the name of, I don’t know, hi-jinx? Madcap fun? Adventures in Babysitting-style craziness? But they do grow on you, and are quite likable further down the road. What we’re presented with are two teen archetypes, straight from a John Hughes movie, but with that wise, clever and funny beyond their years slant that seemingly every teenager in every film post-Juno possesses.

To kick things off, at least, they’re certainly borderline intolerable. The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak is not a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination there is a lot of suspension of disbelief necessary to get the most out of these pages, and the characters aren’t always… Just give me a second to decide between likable and intolerable as the proper adjective.

Brian katcher books