It can't only be me but when I don't care about the characters in a story, I don't care about the story. This was an issue even with my favourite author Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series which had characters that were so self-absorbed and completely irresponsible that the plot, setting, or ending didn't make up for any of it. Donna Tartt's Secret History also posed the same issue for me and reading it was a major struggle. Characters need to be worth caring about for readers to continue to follow a story and that much should be obvious. Even if the characters are deliberately unlikable, growth or even some sort of actualized change in their development will make the reading experience more worthwhile. Nonetheless the YA genre is in need of more subgenre diversity and Lockhart is really out here repping the suspense category which she deserves acknowledgement for.