Book Report: The Boy Who Couldn't Die

In a matter of hours, I read William Sleator's 'The Boy Who Couldn't Die'.
I think I'd sort of like my hours back.

The premise is grabbing: Ken is a 16 year old boy in New York who recently survived his best friend's death, a gruesome plane crash resulting in a closed-casket funeral. Ken, deeply disturbed, decides that death is ugly and he does not want to endure anything like what Rodger did. So he goes to see Cheri Buttercup, a sort of witch who claims she can make him invulnerable to pain and death for fifty dollars. She preforms a ritual which nearly kills Ken--a necessary part of the procedure, she explains. Cheri has taken Ken's soul from his body and hidden it, and now his physical body is immortal.
And it is. Ken experiments, eventually winding up on an island in the Caribbean hunting for sharks, hoping to further prove that he cannot die. While there, he meets a young local girl named Sabine, who steals his heart.
But of course, nothing is as it seems. Ken has horrible dreams. He confides in Sabine about his immortality, and she urges him to set things right. Cheri did not simply hide Ken's soul; she has turned him into an 'astral zombie' and is using his soul to do her bidding. When Ken confronts her, she demands fifty thousand dollars to replace his soul- which is hidden in a location known only to her.
With Sabine's help, Ken is able to decode his dreams and locate his soul himself--in an underwater cave near the Adirondack mountains. It is also winter, and a sheet of ice covers the lake. Oh, and Cheri has placed a guardian in front of the cave, which they will have to defeat first. And they are also on a time limit due to the small amount of air available in their scuba diving tanks. AND even if they make it, they will still have to find the hole in the ice that they dove through. *deep breath*

Great idea, poor delivery. Ken was unlikable, snotty and self-absorbed. Sabina was a flat character whose main purpose was to provide answers. Ken's parents were virtually non-existent. Too much thinking, not enough doing. Minimal attention to detail, other than the mechanics of scuba diving. No sub-plots, no other points of view. I was bored, tricked once more by the intriguing title and pretty cover.
But to Sleator's credit, the book is intended for teenagers.
Two stars out of five.