4 out of 5 stars.

John Green’s Paper Towns is a must-read. Filled with metaphors and full out quotable passages, it’s one of the most resonant books I’ve read in a long time.

Quentin Jacobsen is in love with Margo Roth Spiegleman. He has been since they were kids. But there’s one problem – she doesn’t pay any attention to him.

Until, that is, she sneaks into his room in the middle of the night and asks him to help her.

At 2 am in Orlando, Margo and Quentin fulfill a carefully crafted plan – Margo’s plan to get back at some people who hadn’t been very nice to her.

And then, the next day, after such an adventure and the most fun Quentin thinks he’s had in his life, she disappears.

This isn’t surprising; for Margo Roth Spiegleman, the disappearing act is just another trick up her sleeve. She’s done this before. She left clues last time, so Quentin figures she must have left clues this time, too.

Quentin goes on a chase to find her, finding clues and trying to make sense of them. But on his journey, Quentin finds that Margo Roth Spiegleman isn’t the person he thought she was, and that maybe his outlook on life was somewhat misguided.

I don’t usually read mystery novels (but when I do, I read John Green) but this was a book that wasn’t easily put down. And, I was surprised to find, this was a mystery that I couldn’t quite solve. It wasn’t your typical crime drama disappearance. It was intriguing, and full of clues that led to seemingly nowhere.

Admittedly, the pace was a bit sluggish towards the middle. Quentin stopped finding clues, and he couldn’t figure out the ones he had. Every lead he had led to a dead end. It was frustrating for him not to miraculously find a clue that clearly led to Margo.

But on the other hand, it gave him time to figure out who exactly Margo was. He thought he knew who she was until she went on this quest to find her. And then he discovered that maybe he wasn’t seeing people as people, more as paper people in their Paper Towns.