Will To Survive by Eric Walters

Will To Survive is the final installment in Canadian author, Eric Walters' Rule of Three trilogy about survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

It has been months since the power blackout and the community at Eden Mills has further solidified itself, growing its own food and developing its own security. But it is now plagued by one of its own members, rookie cop Brett who has turned against the Eden Mills group.

The novel opens exactly where the second book left off - Adam Daley has just killed two men intent on making him fly his Cessna to a group of armed ex-military men who have been preying on smaller communities.

Adam's group, led by Herb Campbell had captured Brett and his group which had gone rogue. Brett who was being kept prisoner, escaped, freed the other prisoners and ordered them to kill their guards. He kidnapped Adam and had instructed two of the prisoners, Tim and Owen to force him to fly his Cessna to the Division compound while he and the remaining prisoners traveled on foot to the Division. Before leaving, Brett told Adam that he had killed Herb. Determined not to fly the Cessna, Adam had no choice but to kill Tim and Owen. Will To Survive opens with Adam's mother who in charge of security and her lieutenant, Howie, trying to understand what has just happened.

Adam races to Herb's home to discover him very much alive. Suspecting Brett might try to kill him, Herb has been sleeping in his "safe" room - a concrete bunker in his basement. Adam tells his mother, Howie and Herb that Brett forced the rebels to kill the guards. Based on what Adam tells him, Herb states that Brett is trying to instill fear into their community. Adam also tells Herb that Brett has formed an alliance with the colonel and the remains of the Division who have since returned to the compound.

Herb tells them they must act quickly because Brett knows how they operate, their strengths and weaknesses. They decide to change the guard stations and their schedules as well as where supplies are stored. Meanwhile, Herb and Adam take the Cessna up and fly directly to the Division compound because they know that is what Brett is expecting. However Adam and Herb also take along a home made bomb, set to detonate thirty-five seconds after its armed. They touch down only long enough for Herb to set down the armed bomb. The explosion destroys one of the barracks and creates a huge hole in the runway.

Herb, Adam and Quinn who is an ex-Division member do reconnaissance from the Cessna to see what communities exist around them. They discover the refinery near the lake which likely still contains fuel and decide that they will reach out to them in the future. Their flight also takes them over the Division compound which is found to be deserted. An away team is sent to the compound to tear it down and destroy it so the Division cannot return.

Days later the Eden Mills neighborhood is attacked from the burned out condominium tower. Two guards are injured. In the morning Adam goes up in the ultra light while Adam's father and others lead an assault team to the tower. They find that the sniper has abandoned the tower but killed four people so he could use their unit. Adam and Herb believe that Brett is behind the attacks which resulted in the deaths of three guards. While the rest of the group wants to take down the tower, Adam suggests that they extend their wall so that it includes the condo tower. His plan while increasing the number of people they have to feed will allow them to grow more food and provide better protection for the Cessna taking off on the Erin Mills highway.

As this is undertaken, flights over the area reveal several things to Adam and Herb. They discover that there is a group of armed people with motorized buggies and carts who are traveling on the nearby roads. They appear to be well organized and are all wearing similar clothing. They also locate a field of ready-to-harvest potatoes and discover another farmer and his family, taking them into the community. However, a second attack on the Eden Mills community with a rocket propelled grenade makes Herb realize that they must connect with the communities around them, including the people living at the hospital

Adam, his girlfriend Lori and best friend Todd discover another isolated community on an island in the lake. They are forced to land at the island airport where they meet Robert Wayne a colonel in charge of three thousand people living there. After returning to Eden Mill's Adam brings Herb back to the island to meet Colonel Wayne. However, they are contacted by Brett and he tells them he will be attacking the Eden Mills neighborhood again. Adam begins to realize that the only way to protect their people may be to kill Brett. It is an action he does not want to take, but when Brett harms more innocent people, Adam becomes convinced they will only be safe when Brett is dead.

Discussion

Will To Survive is a thrilling conclusion to Walter's Rule of Three series. In the first two novels, Walters laid the groundwork for the events in the final novel by developing the sociopathic character of Brett who was a cop working under Adam's mother in the local police force. At first it seems Herb is able to restrain Brett's bad behaviour, but as the crisis continues and social order breaks down, Brett's true character begins to show. He becomes increasingly violent, killing for pleasure and then becomes determined to seek revenge on Herb and Adam. Brett takes over the Division and turns them into a mobile Mad Max-like force. His attacks on the Eden Mills community evolve into attacks against innocent families in an attempt to breed fear and gain control over the community. Believing he has killed Herb, he is now determined to kill Adam, who he sees as the leader of the Eden Mills community.

In contrast Adam Daley continues to grow into a responsible, intelligent leader under the tutelage of Herb. Adam is the true hero of the situation; he thinks outside the box and tries to live by his moral code, an important part of which is not to kill people. As he confronts the evil threat Brett poses, Adam questions whether he will become like Brett, killing for pleasure. Adam knows that likely the only way to stop Brett is to kill him. "And he was a monster -- a monster I had to kill. And I had to do it without hesitation, without that split second of doubt, without thinking of him as a person. Then I realized that was the way Brett killed. No doubt, no remorse, no second thoughts. In order to kill him, to kill the monster, I'd have to be a monster, too. I'd have to join him. Not just for my own sake, but for the people of this neighborhood and beyond."

When the neighborhood group votes on whether or not to give into Brett's demands, Adam has the deciding vote and he demonstrates courage by voting not to give in. But this is still a struggle for him as he admits after a fight with his girlfriend Lori. "Here I was, stuck between two options; either I was becoming too much like Brett...or I wasn't enough like him and I wouldn't be able to stay alive."

Eventually though Adam does have to kill Brett when Herb is shot in cold blood. The loss of Herb leaves Adam second-guessing his decision to follow his conscience. But Dr. Morgan tells him "That's not who you are. That's not who we are, what we stand for, and you know that." Adam knows he couldn't have killed Brett in cold blood, which is why he never killed Brett until he murdered Herb. Instead he waited until he had no choice.

Adam's hope in humanity and his struggle to see the humanity of those he's fighting against - especially Brett, results in Herb changing how he views others. Herb freely admits that Adam helped remind him of the humanity of others in his final letter.

The only significant plot weakness in Will To Survive is the lack of any hint about what happened to cause the blackout. Despite the Eden Mills community coming into contact with military and other communities almost a hundred miles away no mention is ever made about what happened on a broader scale. For example, the island community which has planes capable of traveling far distances apparently has no idea what is going on. Neither Adam nor Herb seem interested in finding out either. The question is never broached even six months after the blackout when there might have been some news of what happened.

Walters skillfully leads his readers to the exciting showdown between Brett's group and the Eden Mills community. Despite the shocking twist at the end of the novel, the story concludes on a hopeful note with the brief restoration of the highway lights suggesting that whatever cause the blackout for months was soon to be overcome.

The Rule of Three series is highly recommended for fans of survival fiction and reluctant readers who prefer a male protagonist. As usual, the great covers are an encouragement to crack the spine and become immersed in a well thought-out story by an accomplished Canadian author.

Book Details:

Will To Survive by Eric Walters
Toronto: Razorbill    2016
310 pp.

I Am The Traitor by Allen Zadoff

I Am The Traitor is the final book in the Unknown Assassin trilogy. In this final installment Zach finally learns the truth about The Program as he searches for his father. The truth however involves some terrible revelations about Zach's family and his father's involvement in The Program.

The novel opens with Zach waiting to meet Mike in his hometown of Rochester, New York, in the hopes he can rescue his friend, Howard, whom the Program has captured. It might be a trap but Zach has to take the risk if he is to free Howard.

Zach first goes to the University of Rochester where his father was once a psychology professor, attempting to meet Professor Abraham Silberstein, who was his father's former research partner. He manages to find the room where Dr. Silberstein is lecturing but when Silberstein recognizes Zach in the class he abruptly ends the lecture and flees. Zach pursues him losing him when he runs into Mike dressed as a campus cop. 

Mike knows that Zach is searching for his father and tries to convince Zach that what he told him in New York was misunderstood. Mike tells him that he should be angry at his father because he is the one who brought the Program into his life. He also warns Zach that he is in serious trouble having gone rogue on his last two missions. He attempts to convince Zach that both his parents are dead and that the Program should now be his family. Hoping that eventually he can get more information from Mike, Zach decides to play along. Mike informs him that they need to clean up the mess he made and kill Howard who is being held at a house in upstate New York. Zach believes that Mike is either telling him the truth and giving him a chance to set things right, or he is lying and by killing Howard, Zach will destroy any chance of learning the truth about his father.

They travel to the house where Howard is being kept but before going in Zach is contacted by "Mother" who tells him she has no upcoming assignment for him and he's to relax. Zach believes that Mother knows about Howard and his hacking into the Program server and that she's setting a trap for him. Mike tells him this is not a trap but an opportunity to clear his name with the Program.

In order to gain entry to the home where Howard is Zach calls 911, bringing firetrucks to the house. He quickly finds Howard along with another girl, Tanya who is also being held. Zach gets both Howard and Tanya out of the house but is confronted by several Program soldiers. Outside the house Mike kills the Program soldiers as Zach, Howard and Tanya escape in a Honda Accord. They stop at a diner in Courtland to give Zach a chance to question Howard who is somewhat groggy from the drugs he's been given. Mike contacts Zach at the diner to tell him he's coming after him. Zach finds tracking devices in both Howard and Tanya's clothing. As they head towards Binghamton, New York, Tanya tells Zach she needs to contact her Nana who will be worried. Trusting her, Zach allows this while he and Howard discuss the disappearance of Zach's father and mother. Howard believes that the Program would have had to create a cover story since Zach's parents were both well known researchers.  Howard discovers that the Program faked an accident which killed both of Zach's parents. After locating the accident report they head to the police station at Horseheads, New York to talk to Sergeant Manning who wrote up the accident report. Not surprisingly they learn that Manning died from a heart attack two days earlier.

After escaping from Mike who tried to run them off the road at Horseheads, Zach is contacted by him and learns that his parents' are dead but not as a result of the accident which was staged by the Program. He tells Zach to get rid of Howard and Tanya. The next morning Howard does remember Zach. Zach needs to find out more about his father and to that end he needs to access the Program's server. They decide to pay Dr. Silberstein a visit but they need to know where the mag-stripe security pass that Zach stole from him allows access. Howard learns that the card is from the Mercurio Institute and that's where they head next. Impersonating Joshua Silberstein, Dr. Silberstein's son who was Zach's best friend when they were younger, Zach gains access to the doctor's lab. Dr. Silberstein offers Zach more pieces of the puzzle about his parents but each step leads to the destruction of the people Zach meets and demonstrates that the Program is willing to do just about anything to stop him from learning the truth about what really happened to his parents.

Discussion

I Am The Traitor is a suspenseful, fast-paced novel that is impossible to put down. Like the two previous novels it is characterized by plenty of action and a fair number of dead bodies including several very cruel murders by Zach. In this novel Zach is determined to find his father because he no longer believes what he's been told by the Program. He never suspects the truth that is revealed to him near the end of the novel.

** spoilers**

When Zach does find his father, the reality of what his father's involvement in the Program entails,  leads him to realize that he cannot allow him to continue his research. Zach learns that his father initially designed a chip to suppress fear in soldiers. However, the chip didn't seem to work completely the way they wanted. Soldiers still experienced PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome). His father discovered that if the chip was implanted in children twelve or younger, it seemed to function better. So he deliberately turned his own son over to the Program and made him a test subject for a controversial research project - the implantation of a chip that was designed to suppress fear in soldiers.

 As part of that project, Zach was trained to be an assassin.  Zach states, "Instead of making them soldiers, you made them assassins." His father does not believe there is anything wrong with this, instead he tells his son that the Program was a brilliant way to test the chip. As Zach became older he began to rebel against the Program, something his father believed was the result of the chip. So he developed a new chip, one that removes all feelings and remorse, in effect creating soldiers without a conscience.   "Once this chip is inside you, there will be no more feelings. No questions, no mistakes, no need for disloyalty."  When his father tries to force Zach to have this new chip implanted, Zach realizes he will never be free of his father or the Program unless he acts to put an end to it.

Although Zach kills many people, most of his murders are in self defense except for the last two. He sees no way out of the Program other than to kill the two people who created the entire operation, although realistically, with so many Program assets it's hard to see how this would solve Zach's problem in the long term. 

The character of Tanya in I Am The Traitor is rather interesting. She seems to represent a typical Bond girl in this Bond-type story; the reader really doesn't  know if she is for or against Zach. At first she appears to be a helpless girl caught in the Program's net and Zach doesn't seem much interested in her. But soon it's apparent that she is much more than helpless; she can handle a gun and she can fight. Very quickly she and Zach become romantically involved further complicating their relationship. Zach doesn't know what her motives are or whether he can trust her, but he does. In the end she decides to fight with Zach.

Zadoff manages to maintain suspense until the very end of the novel with several other plot twists. Zadoff has stated that the idea for his Unknown Assassin trilogy came from a character who was a trained assassin who assumed a new identity for each mission. Those missions were usually to kill the parents of the teens he was to befriend.

Overall, I Am The Traitor is an action-packed thriller, with plenty of twists, some very disturbing murders, a touch of romance, and offering a solid ending to this trilogy.

Book Details:

I Am The Traitor by Allen Zadoff
New York: Little, Brown and Company     2015
292 pp.

The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers

The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers is a story of a toxic friendship between two girls that ends in tragedy. Shrouded within the mystery of a terrible accident is a toxic love triangle involving one young girl confused about her sexual identity and another with a troubled past.

Synopsis

The novel opens with the ending of the story and then works its back to that point with alternating narrators. It is July 31st, the middle of the summer. The story begins with one of the major characters, Kurt Hartnett, indicating that there has been a terrible car crash at a bridge outside of Edenville. Kurt is at a party at his best friend Xander Buckmaster's home where he overhears people talking about Ivy Foulds and Calliope Carraway who are on their way to the same party. One of the partiers screams that there has been a terrible crash at the bridge and a picture posted on social media indicates that the car is similar to Ivy's. Kurt knows that Callie is with Ivy.

Alternating with Kurt's narratives which occur mostly at the hospital are those of Callie and Ivy, beginning fourteen days prior to the accident which provide the backstory leading up to the accident.

Ivy has returned to Edenville with her alcoholic mother and her mother's boyfriend, Kevin. Ivy's life has been anything but stable. Her father left when she was three years old and her mother has been involved with many men and drinks a lot.

Ivy's friend, Callie, whom she describes as "shiny-penny Callie" still lives in Edenville with her mother and father and her baby brother, Cosmo. Her father is a history professor at the university and her mother is a successful children's author. Callie is a good girl who by her own accounts keeps her room tidy, does her homework and is "perfectly bone-crushingly normal". She feels she should be delighted with a baby in the house" and that at sixteen she should be able to deal with her mother having a new baby. But she's not. Callie is jealous.

When Ivy returns after leaving suddenly three years ago and not saying good-bye, Callie is both thrilled and upset.  Ivy tells Callie that they lived in San Francisco where her mother tried to re-ignite her relationship with Ivy's dad and then moved to Kansas City where she met Kevin, a pot-bellied, well to do man whom Ivy finds disgusting. Ivy forces Callie to go for a run one morning and they meet Callie's friend, Kurt. outside a home near where Callie lives. Callie is puzzled because she knows Kurt lives in a fancy house outside of town. Ivy is immediately attracted to Kurt and Callie notices this attraction. Kurt invites the two girls to accompany him and Xander on his boat the following day. Ivy agrees but Callie knows her mom won't allow her to go.

After visiting her ailing grandmother, Callie approaches her mom about the boat trip but as soon as she learns that Ivy will be going, her mom refuses to allow Callie to go. Her mother tells Callie that she's always been "intoxicated" with Ivy and that her friendship with her was not good for her, causing her to dump her close friend Rebecca three years ago. Because of this, Callies mom decides to forbid her to see Ivy.

Ivy goes out with Kurt and Xander on the boat and the next day the two girls meet at a cafe. On her way to the cafe, Callie sees a ad for a job in an art studio and thinking how forward Ivy is, decides to apply. At the cafe Callie and Ivy make plans to double date that night but Callie, knowing her mother will never give her permission, sneaks out to Ivy's home.The two girls meet Kurt and Xander at a BEneath, a bar a few blocks from Callie's home and get drunk.

Soon Callie begins lying more and more to her mother so she can see Ivy. She sneaks out of the house to go with Ivy, Kurt and Xander on the boat and then one night to go to a party at Kurt's house. However, Callie's parent's discover her lie when she doesn't return home after the party and when her granny passes away the night of the party. At first her mother is furious about the party but after the funeral relents, telling Callie that perhaps she needs to be more open-minded. She agrees to allow Callie to see Ivy but expects her not to lie anymore.

When Ivy tries to get Callie to come to another party, Callie tells her she's not allowed to. She finally explains that her mother doesn't like Ivy after she saw what the girls were doing three years earlier. The two girls go shopping at a store and while Ivy is changing, Callie discovers that Ivy has been lying to her about events that have happened in her life while away in Kansas. This greatly upsets Callie but she accepts Ivy's explanation. The night of the party, Callie decides to slip out of the house and attend without her parents permission. Callie is confused about Ivy's feelings towards her, towards Kurt and believes that possibly Ivy feels that same towards her. Eventually the relationship between the three teens gradually descends into a toxic love triangle with all three not really understanding how they feel about each other.This leads to jealousy, anger and tragedy no one could have predicted.

Discussion

Alice Kuipers keeps her readers guessing through the entire novel with narrations that seem to have one meaning only for the reader to discover that something very different was happening. For example, the reader believes that Xander and Kurt are at the party and head to the hospital to learn the fate of Ivy and Callie. In fact, this is not the case. Careful readers will quickly pick up on what is happening, others won't figure it out till the reveal at the end of the novel.  The same is true for Callie and how she feels about Ivy. At first it seems like she's happy for the return of a long lost friend, but soon it becomes apparent that Callie's relationship with Ivy is very different from an ordinary friendship. The effect of these unreliable narrators is to build a sense of deepening mystery, creating a shocking ending to the story.

Characterization is particularly strong in The Death of Us. Both Ivy and Callie are deeply troubled girls who are struggling with significant changes in their family life, while also trying to determine their own identities. Ivy, who has tried to kill herself, struggles to maintain control in her life, exercising to excess and listening to esteem-building podcasts while attempting to avoid morphing into a copy of her manipulative and needy mother. The rage inside her eventually explodes as she confronts Kurt and Callie about their relationship. Callie, on the other hand, comes from a stable home where she has to fit into her parents image of a good girl. She never parties, does her homework and blends in. But Callie feels lost in a family focused on a toddler, her parents oblivious to her needs as a teenager. Her rebellion is ignited by the arrival of Ivy. Callie's mother really does know the truth about her daughter's relationship with Ivy but tries to pretend that things are normal. Of course the difference between the two girls is that Callie has a mother who really does care about her. When she tells her mother she is confused about who she is, her mother is patient and understanding.

Especially well portrayed is the complex relationship between the two girls. It is a relationship fraught with secrets; the secret of Ivy's mother attempting suicide and the secret of the two girls experimenting sexually. Both of these secrets affect their relationship. Callie told Ivy she has told no one but when the girls visit Callie's granny, the elderly woman lets slip she knows about Ivy's mom. The sexual experimentation is a confusing point for both girls with what happened obviously meaning much more to Callie than to Ivy who definitely likes boys. Neither girl understands the other; Ivy doesn't understand Callie's attraction to her to the point that she doesn't believe she's not interested in Kurt and Callie doesn't understand Ivy's distrust and dishonesty.


As Kuipers has stated about The Death of Us, "Starting a book with the end of a story, makes for difficult writing.." But Alice Kuipers succeeds brilliantly in her novel. It an interesting, well written novel from a favourite writer of mine.

Book Details:
The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers
Toronto: HarperTrophy Canada     2014
216 pp.

Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin

Tabula Rasa is a action-suspense novel about a girl trapped in a mental hospital who is trying to learn why paid mercenaries are attempting to assassinate her.

Sarah Ramos is in a special medical center surrounded by mountains where she is being treated by doctors to have her long-term memories erased. "Getting better means forgetting the past." Dr. Buckley who looks like Santa Claus is the surgeon who will be doing Sarah's surgery. She's only met him once. Larry Ladner is Buckley's research partner who reads the CAT scans and the MRI's and decides were to drill. While surgery is being done, Sarah who's awake notices that she's being watched from the observation window by Ms. Hodges, someone who inexplicably causes Sarah to feel intense hatred. Suddenly during her procedure, all the lights go out. The power returns and then fails again. It is during this second failure that someone enters the operating room and places a plastic bag into her hand. After being taken out of surgery, Sarah is wheeled back to her room in the South Wing by her orderly, Steve, but she notices that everyone is gone. Steve tells her that there is to be a big blizzard that night and that people are being flown out. They encounter another patient, Jori, who tells Sarah that she overheard Ms. Hodges talking on her cell phone with Dr. Buckley about Sarah and that they need to deal with her. She warns Sarah that something bad is going to happen. 

When Sarah gets back to her room she discovers that she's been given three pills in a plastic bag with a note instructing her to take the a pill every 24 hours and not to move around after taking them. Sarah takes the first pill and almost immediately begins to have a flashback of climbing a crane in New York City to place a banner. In her hospital room Sarah notices street clothing stashed under her bed so she gets dressed. She discovers a magnetic card similar to the one that allows staff to access doors. She hears a series of pops and decides to leave her room and move into the ward. Sarah hears the sound of helicopter rotors and then watches in horror as it launches a small rocket into the building - where her room is. In her attempt to get to Jori and rescue her, Sarah encounters men dressed in military camos who shoot at her. When she reaches the lobby of the hospital, the military men announce that they are here for Sarah Ramos and ask for help locating her. Sarah is betrayed by Steve who announces that she is hiding behind the security guard's desk.

Steve is murdered by the men but Sarah is protected from the strafing gunfire by a filing cabinet. Arriving in the lobby is a woman with a southern accent who tells a soldier to check on Sarah to confirm she is dead. Sarah who covers herself in the blood of another person waits until the soldier comes close and then manages to escape through a broken window and falls fifteen feet into the basement. Unfortunately, her fall destroys one of the two remaining capsules. She uses the passcard to slip into a garage. Realizing she is trapped Sarah finds a nail gun to use as a weapon and a way out into the cold, blizzard.

Outside she sees a figure dressed in a puffy ski jacket and the fact that he has hair means he's not one of the hospital patients. Sarah follows this person to a work site on the other side of the building where she sees a huge excavation site. The young person heads to a small building attached to the main facility by a glass walkway. Sarah manages to get into the building after he uses his pass card. They meet after Sarah punches him in the face.

The young man tells her that this building houses the mainframe for the hospital where he retrieves some data and then destroys the hospital's mainframe. He tells Sarah that he is a hacker named Pierce and his boss, 8-Bit is also a pre-eminent hacker but that they are not connected to the people who are trying to kill Sarah. They hide out in the boy's yurt in the forest and Sarah discovers several things about herself with his help. First she tells him that all she knows is that her parents are dead and she is in the hospital because she has PSTD. However when she remembers that she calls herself "Angel"  Pierce tells her she has a large tattoo of wings on her back,  and that he believes he knows who she is.

Pierce thinks that she may be the girl known as Angel who "exposed a vast government scandal and then vanished into thin air." As Angel, she stopped the development of a housing project along the Hudson River leading to people being sent to prison for lying to Congress about the government's involvement. People believed she had been assassinated. Pierce wonders why she was put in the hospital and why 8-Bit who is his father, was involved. He tells Angel that his father gave him a flash drive that has information on it in case he doesn't return.

Pierce and Angel also come to a startling conclusion - that she needs to replace the pill which was destroyed in her fall. Pierce tells her that the doctor who has been working on her is not Dr. Buckley but really someone named Joseph Purcell Wilson who is the mastermind behind the Tabula Rasa project. Pierce explains that Buckley was likely never physically in the hospital operating on her but actually did the operations remotely. He also states that based on what he's read, the procedures are not permanent. Pierce explains that a plasticizer that migrates to certain nerve endings has been injected into her head and that another chemical is injected to harden the plasticizer, killing the neurons. The plasticizers can be flushed out of her brain via special pills. Pierce tells her that once she starts to take the pills she has to take all three or it won't work - instead the plasticizer will remain in her brain and could cause permanent damage. Angel tells him she's taken one of the pills but that one has been destroyed and she has one remaining pill.

Based on this information, Pierce and Angel decide that she needs to get back into the hospital to find the third pill. This leads Angel and Pierce who now tells her his real name is Thomas, into a race against time and a deadly battle against trained mercenaries to recover the medication she needs and to discover why she is being hunted.

Discussion:

Tabula Rasa is an engaging, suspenseful novel told from the perspective of Sarah Ramos, a teenager who has no idea who she is and why she is in a high security hospital. The appeal of this novel is her struggle to recover her identity while being hunted down by special mercenaries hired by a crazy woman named Evangeline Hodges. With the help of Thomas and his hacking abilities, as well as the pills which restore some of her memories, Sarah comes to the decision that that she needs to kill Hodges and she needs to get the one pill she needs to neutralize the procedure done to her.

Lippert-Martin has created an exciting premise for a novel - girl who has no memory of her past and therefore no idea as to why she's in a hospital. However, the ending falls short of expectations, despite the heart-pounding action scenes that feel like they have been written for a movie. As the storyline develops and it becomes apparent that Angel is caught up in some kind of top secret research, suspense builds. Readers will be disappointed however, when the truth is finally revealed at the end of the novel because the storyline feels so unnecessarily convoluted and overly complex. Thomas's father, 8-Bit asks the question the reader is left wondering, why go to all this effort to hire mercenaries to kill a 16 year old girl who is a patient in hospital?  One wonders why Hodges simply didn't hire an assassin to take out Angel (who had no parents and whose real father, Virgil Claymore did not even know about her existence) instead of placing her in a research facility and then having to hire expensive mercenaries to kill her. 

The manner in which Angel eventually learns the truth about her identity and her past is disappointing. Although she does learn about some of her past, the loose ends are tied together by Thomas's father, 8-Bit, who has been captured by Evangeline Hodges. Believing Angel to be dead, Hodges has her taken to the Director's office and left on the carpet to hear 8-Bit questioning Evangeline killing Angel. Through this conversation Angel and the reader learn about how Evangeline wormed her way into the Claymore family and fought for control of the Velocius project - research that has the potential to create super-soldiers who can think and act quickly. Angel was the project's first success, something Hodges did know about. Instead, she wanted Angel to be murdered by Wilson during brain surgery in revenge for causing problems with Claymore Industries, the company hoping to benefit from the secret research. How Lippert-Martin sets up Angel recovering her missing pill seems implausible and the way in which Evangeline Hodges is arrested feels contrived.

The story misses the mark by diverging into smaller subplots that often are distracting, leaving the reader hanging. For example, when Thomas is badly injured, Angel encounters three men, Sam, Jerry and Sylvester, who are former Special Forces soldiers who believe they are prisoners of war surrounded by miles of desert. They were the first set of experiments undertaken by Wilson but they backfired and are now experiencing what is called paradoxical treatment effect. Barefoot and kept in a room having no contact with the outside world, with one man strangely in possession of an axe, these men become the substitute security detail for Thomas, helping Angel on a secondary mission to repower a battery. (Her brain is at stake and yet her focus is Thomas's computer?)

Just before this event, Thomas and Angel are about to re-enter the hospital to try to reach the sixth floor where the medical supplies are kept. However, Thomas is terribly injured when one of the escaped patients, Oscar Noriega who is completely crazy, takes a backhoe to the trailer they are in. This removes one of the main characters in the story, stunting what was the beginning of an interesting, blossoming relationship between Angel and Thomas. Thomas is conveniently brought back into the story by the medic, Jerry and a shot of morphine.  For the type of injury Thomas has sustained,  "His lower leg looks like the muscle has been filleted off the bone." the shot of morphine makes him able to function as though nothing has happened to him. He's right back on his laptop hacking mainframes and locating soldiers. Morphine has a significant effect on pain but also on the cognitive abilities of a person. It's unlikely given Thomas's injury that he would be much use to Angel or anyone else at this time.

A rather incongruous piece of dialogue in this novel is one that happens between Thomas and Angel near the beginning of the story. Angel and Thomas are in the trailer and Angel is looking for something to eat. Thomas instructs Angel to make him something to eat but not the enchiladas because "They taste like Mexicans." This gets even stranger when Thomas insists that enchiladas taste like "...actual Mexicans. Unwashed ones."  There is simply no way to make any sense of this strange, out of place dialogue that is derogatory towards Mexican people.

Lippert-Martin could have created a more interesting novel by simply having a straightforward story that focused on the secretive research aspect, somehow tying in Angel's relationship as a whistleblower who needs to be silenced. A better developed villain would also be an asset instead of a poor girl from Georgia who is determined to make it in New York City and ends up walking around the hospital in a long coat.

Overall, those who like action thriller novels with mass destruction and mayhem will probably enjoy Tabula Rasa.

Book Details:
Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin
New York: Egmont     2014
335 pp.

Blackbird by Anna Carey

Blackbird is the first book in Anna Carey's duology about a girl involved in a deadly cat and mouse game that sees her being hunted by a series of unknown assassins.

The novel opens with a girl, who awakens to find herself on the subway tracks at the Vermont/Sunset Station, hearing the screeching of the train as it stops over her. "At first it is all sound, the grinding of the wheels in the metal track, the rush of air as the train barrels forward. Its hot breath musses your hair. You stare into the train's underbelly, metal and pipe and wire. As the train finally slows, stopping in the station, it takes you a few seconds to process it: You are still lying there, just inches below the train. You're still alive."

She finds herself just lying there, "specifically positioned, arms crossed over her chest, shoulders just inside the tracks." After the ambulance arrives, they back the train up and the girl sits up. When they try to place her on the board, asking her her name and and what happened, she doesn't know, gets up and runs out of the station.

The first thing she notices about herself is that there is a mysterious tattoo on the inside of her write wrist; FNV02198. In her backpack she finds a notepad, mace, a pocketknife, a map and one thousand dollars.  Inside a supermarket, where she's fled, she bumps into a guy who notices the gash on her forearm. The boy lets her use his phone to call the number on her notepad. When she calls the number, an unknown man tells her to meet him at the building marked on her map. She then asks Ben, the guy she's met, to give her a ride to the area where the building is located, which he does. When Ben asks her her name, she makes up the name "Sunny". Ben drops her at the building, giving her his phone number. In the building Sunny goes to Garner Consulting on the 9th floor. When no one meets her there, she decides to break in to the office, only to find the safe forced open and money spilled over the floor. Terrified and suspecting she's been set up, Sunny flees the scene. After spending the night in a playground, she finds a hotel room, changes into new clothing and then experiences a flashback about attending a funeral.

Soon Sunny begins to realize that she is being followed. She notices a man at the diner and when she attempts to lose him, he gets into a silver car and follows her. Trying to outrun him, she ducks into a huge music store and seems to lose him. Meanwhile the narrative switches to a wealthy woman who is attending a dinner reception and who receives a cryptic message that happens to identify Sunny's location - the Greyhound bus station on Hollywood Boulevard.  Meanwhile Sunny's second person narrative reveals that she is now at the bus station intending to travel to San Francisco, hoping to lose whoever is following her. However, Sunny never makes her bus because she is attacked by a woman wearing a unique medallion. This woman chases Sunny and tries to kill her. Sunny is saved at the last minute by the same man who was tracking her earlier, when he shoots and kills the woman.


When Sunny returns to the scene of the murder very soon after, she finds almost no evidence of the life and death struggle that took place between her and the woman; her body and the gun are both gone. Back in the hotel and having difficult sleeping, Sunny dreams about a boy in a forest and how they are being hunted. Remembering Ben, Sunny decides to call him and they meet at the diner. She tells Ben what has been going on and decides to return with him to his house where he lives with his mother. Searches on Ben's computer reveal no information about a missing girl nor about a woman killed by the 101 Freeway. Sunny also meets Ben's next door neighbour, Izzy who seems friendly.

After taking her to a party Ben and Sunny spend time at the beach relaxing. Sunny continues making notes in her notepad and then realizes that the man who was following her found her twice, only a day apart. This seems too coincidental to Sunny who now believes she's being tracked. She searches her backpack and discovers a hidden tracking device. She decides to set up a third meeting with this man, on her own terms by hiding the tracking device in a park where she can ambush him.

When Sunny does take him down she learns that his name is Ivan Petrovski and that he was paid to track her. Ivan tells her he was paid to make it look like she robbed Garner Consulting and that he doesn't know the identity of the woman who tried to kill her nor who has hired him. He also reveals to Sunny that he told them that she killed the woman. Using Ivan's phone, Sunny calls a number on Ivan's phone, telling them that she has Ivan. This sends them after both Ivan and Sunny. Sunny manages to escape and follows Ivan's captors to a house where he is interrogated and beaten.

After leaving Ivan to the mercy of his captors, Sunny is once again being followed and finds herself cornered in the washroom of a fast food joint where the man tries to kill her. Again Sunny barely escapes due to luck. Sunny begins to sense that these people are hunting her because they don't actually want to use the tracking device. Instead they want clues to her whereabouts. She is part of an elaborate game. Realizing that she is in over her head, Sunny reaches out to the police. Can anyone save her in this elaborate cat and mouse game, where she is the prey and others are the hunters?

Discussion

Readers will find the point of view in  Blackbird different because it is written in second person using "you" pronouns. It's unusual to have a book written from the second person narrative because generally it is difficult to make it work, but Carey succeeds, having crafted a novel filled with suspense and mystery. Through her use of second person narrative, Carey pulls the reader into the action especially when Sunny is being attacked or being chased, which based on the premise of the novel, happens frequently.

"She grabs your head with one hand, watching you as she holds you there, the smile still curled on her lips. Then she raises the knife. The pain in your head is white-hot, your back scraped and bleeding on the pavement, and you know this is it."

Carey has indicated that she wrote Blackbird in second person because she felt this was the best perspective for a character who had no memory of who she is and because it makes the reader feel like they are the ones who are in danger. She also felt it was a new approach to writing a thriller and would push her out of her comfort zone. It is a different narrative that most readers will not often experience and Carey makes it work here. It's fresh and intriguing.

The story is mostly action driven, partly because the character doesn't remember who she is and with the second person narrative we learn along with her, bits and pieces of her past. Sunny appears to be a very intelligent, quick-thinking girl with considerable street smarts and someone who seems mature beyond her years. She also appears to have had some kind of self-defense training and is athletic. She's in a city where she seems to remember how to get around, but can't remember her own name or past. We learn through another narrator that this might be because she has been given some kind of drug to erase her memories, but that the drug is beginning to wear off, as evidenced by the recurring dreams and flashbacks she's experiencing. She's adaptable and resilient, determined to uncover her past and her identity and to learn why she's being hunted.

There are plenty of secondary characters in the novel, most of whom we meet only briefly and therefore are not very well drawn. Ben and Celia Alvarez are the two main secondary characters. Ben appears to be on Sunny's side, providing a place for her to stay and driving her around to investigate certain areas and situations. However, when Sunny discovers a folder labelled she suspects Ben's motives and flees from him. Celia on the other is definitely out to help Sunny, letting her leave when she learns Sunny was involved in the arson in San Francisco as well as keeping in contact with her outside of her job. It is Celia who provides Sunny with the information about Hilary Goss, the woman who tried to kill her.

The cliffhanger ending leads nicely into the sequel, Deadfall, which will be released June 2015. In this sequel, the main character will meet the boy in her dreams, try to figure out what has happened between her and Ben, learn her true identity and come to understand her past and finally figure out who the people are who are trying to kill her and why.



***The remainder of the novel is summarized below for those who will read the sequel next year and want to refresh their memories as to what happened. It therefore contains spoilers.**

Sunny is interviewed extensively by the police who find her story unbelievable. When they question her about Ben after finding his name and number in her pocket, Sunny feels that she has to protect him and simply tells the police that he was just "some guy I met at the supermarket" who tried to pick her up. In an effort to locate the house where Ivan was taken, another officer, Celia Alvarez takes Sunny out in her cruiser, where they do eventually find the house. Incredibly, the house has been set on fire and the cops believe it  was the work of junkies. Celia tells Sunny that her prints indicate that she is wanted for arson at Club Xenith in San Francisco. Believing that Celia will arrest her, Sunny flees, although she suspects that Celia is letting her go.

Sunny returns to Ben telling him why she ran from him and that she eventually went to the police. Research on Ben's computer suggests that homeless teens are believed responsible for the arson in San Francisco. Sunny and Ben become intimate. Later on she remembers more about THE BOY, whom she loves and whom she realizes was being hunted on the island. The next morning, Sunny decides to investigate Parillo Construction, the name she saw on the boxes at the house where Ivan was. Ben takes her to Parillo Construction where Sunny makes a gruesome discovery - the body of Ivan stuffed into a garbage bag ready to be disposed of and evidence of a dog-fighting ring.

Meanwhile Celia Alvarez is certain that the unknown girl who came to the police is telling the truth. Celia meets Sunny unexpectedly in the parking lot outside the grocery store and the girl has new information for her about the man who was kidnapped after she met him in the park, about his body and where it can be found. Sunny also wants to know if Celia knows her name from the information given to them by police in San Francisco. but Celia tells her that one of the homeless kids stated her name was Trinie and that she was originally from a town named Cabazon, near Palm Springs.

While waiting for Ben to come home from school, Sunny reluctantly accompanies Izzy shopping but then discovers she's being watched and followed by the man from the park. Sunny flees but finds herself being chased and shot at by the unknown man. Although he tackles and brings Sunny down, she manages to escape. When she returns to Ben's house they travel to Cabazon to try to find Sunny's home. Later that night in a motel,  Sunny has another dream about being attacked by a man while on the island and being saved by the boy. When she awakes, Sunny remembers that the man who hunted her on the island is the same man who chased and shot her. He's hunted her before.

Ben has to go meet his mom while Sunny decides to go meet Celia at her home. Celia tells her that she has uncovered two unsolved homicides of teenagers in which the bodies had the right hand severed at the wrist. Sunny shows Celia the bird tattoo on her wrist and is convinced that this is brand identifying her. Celia gives her an untraceable cell phone to keep in touch.

When Sunny arrives back at Ben's home she finds him not home. A call from Celia yields startling information - that a man came to claim the car of a woman whom he says is his wife away on business. The woman, Hilary Goss is the person who chased Sunny and a search online reveals the man with the scar who chased and almost killed Sunny as her husband, Henry Goss. Sunny decides to go to Henry's home, breaks in and in a secret compartment in the bedroom closet finds a dossier on her, showing her scars, and labelling her as Blackbird, Los Angeles Target, who survived 15 days on the island. A contract between the Goss's and A&A Enterprises in the folder states that he has been reassigned to "Blackbird" as a result of his wife's death. There is mention of a "Watcher" and a "Stager", though they are not identified.

The situation becomes complicated when Izzy shows up at the house and they are confronted by Henry Goss. Goss shoots Izzy and chases Sunny who manages yet again to escape. When she arrives at Ben's home safe, she decides to search online, understanding now that this game is huge with many participants. That's when she notices the AAE folder on Ben's computer and realizes that he's her Watcher. Sunny's narrative is broken by a scene on the island of a woman who doesn't know that her husband is on the island hunting humans. When she sees a sign for help she assumes her husband is in trouble and goes into the forest to find him, only to be shot dead by another hunter. Sunny flees first to check on Izzy at the hospital and then to Union station where she plans to catch a train to Chicago. There at the train station is the boy from the island.


Book Details:
Blackbird by Anna Carey
New York: HarperTeen      2014
245 pp.

The Rules For Breaking by Ashley Elston

For those who might not remember:
In the first novel we learned why Anna's family has been in the witness protection program and why they have moved so many times, including their last move from Scottsdale, Arizona to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Anna's family is in the program not because of her father but because of what she witnessed. Anna's father worked for Brandon Price's father in his accounting firm. Eduardo Sanchez whom Anna called Scar Face because of a nasty scar through his left eye, was a big client of their firm and Mr. Price was his CPA. For years the FBI had been monitoring Sanchez who appeared to have an import/export business. In fact, he worked for a Mexican drug cartel, smuggling drugs into the U.S and laundering the money through his fake business. Brandon Price's father was helping him launder the money. However, Mr. Price was in the process of making a deal with the Feds - "immunity for turning over all accounting records that could convict Sanchez of money laundering, and also showing them how the cartel moved drugs and money." Sanchez discovered what Price was up to and killed him. Price had arranged to turn over the evidence the next day but it never happened because he was murdered along with his son. Anna, hidden behind the couch in the Price home, heard the argument between Price and Sanchez about ledgers. When Sanchez killed Price, Anna's presence was discovered. In order to save her life she told him she knew where the ledgers were but he never had the time to collect them because the police arrived on the scene. Because of this Sanchez has been hunting for her and her family was been placed in the Witness Protection Program.

But Anna's memory eventually does return and she remembers where the ledgers are hidden. Before Sanchez entered Price's home office, she saw Price hide them in the stone wall behind his desk. With the help of her new boyfriend, Ethan Landry, who drives Anna from Louisiana to Scottsdale, and Anna's friends in Scottsdale, they return to the Price's home and locate the ledgers. Agent Thomas shows up telling them that Sanchez is dead and asks her to give him the ledgers. Anna tries to bluff him but when he tells her that her testimony will no longer be needed because of the ledgers, she gives them to him. However, they discover that Agent Thomas is a fake, and that Sanchez is alive. Anna tells Agent Williams how she came to know and trust whoever Agent Thomas is. Ethan placed a tracker in the bag with the ledgers and they soon learn that the tracker is found on the body of Sanchez. Williams says he doesn't know why Thomas didn't kill Anna and Ethan and he suspects that Thomas works for the cartel as a hitman. Anna and Ethan return to Natchitoches, Louisiana, just wanting to put all of this behind them. However, Anna receives one last visit from Thomas who returns her journal, leading Anna to suspect that this is not finished.

The Rules For Breaking picks up the story from the first novel. Anna's family has only been out of the Witness Protection Program a month. But Anna's obsessed with what happened after the Mardi Gras dance when the party moved to Ethan's best friend, Will's, house. She hasn't told anyone about how her journal was returned to her that night or the note left in it by Thomas. Why didn't Thomas kill her? When Will, his girlfriend, Catherine, Ethan, his sister, Emma, and Anna get together to plan a trip to the Gulf, Anna's journal falls out of her bag. Ethan is horrified and urges Anna to tell her father, which they do. Anna's father contacts the program and Agent Williams informs them that he will arrive in Natchitoches in a day or so. That changes when they discover later in the day that someone has broken into their home. Agent Williams, accompanied by Agent Parker, arrives quickly and based on what he learns tells them that he suspects that they have a mole in their program. Anna's journal is sent for testing and they learn that someone named Daniel Sanders was the one who returned the journal. They don't know why Sanders searched the house or why someone is still interested in Anna. All this results in Agent Williams arranging for Anna and her family along with Ethan and his father to travel to the Landry's hunting camp on a remote island in the Mississippi River in Arkansas.

However, the first day they are on the island, Anna, her younger sister Teeny and Ethan are kidnapped by Thomas and another man whom Anna nicknames Vader, and taken to the French Quarter in New Orleans although at first they don't know where they are. Thomas reveals to Anna that his boss was not happy that he did not fulfill his part of the contract and kill her. Now the cartel boss, Vega, has sent a replacement to finish the job, to kill Anna and Ethan as well as Thomas and his friend. That replacement is a man named Mateo and Thomas's plan is to use Anna as bait to lure him to the French Quarter so he can assassinate him.

Anna tries to find a way out of their prison, working away at the slats covering their window and confirming that they are in fact in the French Quarter of New Orleans in an old Ursuline convent. She also wants to know who Vader is because he seems familiar to her. When Anna confronts him, she manages to pull off Vader's mask and discovers he is Tyler Collins the boy she dated when she lived in Florida. Eventually Tyler tells Anna that he got close to her in Florida because Sanchez didn't believe that she had lost her memory and Thomas thought that if she had a boyfriend Anna might open up and reveal what she remembered. They wanted to get the ledgers back and when the boyfriend idea didn't work Thomas thought if they forced another relocation, Anna might talk.

With Thomas gone for the day, Thomas's plans begin to unravel. It turns out that Anna was seen hanging out of the third floor window of the convent, fueling the myth that the convent is haunted by the ghosts of the French girls brought there centuries earlier. Tyler now needs to get Anna, Teeny and Ethan away from the convent because Mateo has arrived and suspects that the ghost girl is Anna. Tyler reveals that Thomas was using Anna as bait to lure Mateo and Senor Vega and he is planning to kill both and take over the cartel. Tyler reveals to Anna his past and tells her he did not know that his brother was a hit man, but he made him promise in Florida that he would not kill Anna.

Tyler tells Anna that Thomas gave him the journal upon returning from Arizona, as a keepsake because it showed that Anna liked Tyler. But Tyler wanted to return the journal to her so he slipped it into her coat in Natchitoches. He never thought Anna would tell the Feds about it. When Thomas learned that they were going to test the journal for prints, he had to get it back because the prints would lead them to Tyler whose full name is Daniel Tyler Sanders and ultimately to Thomas, his brother. When Vega found out Anna was still alive and that they could trace the journal to Thomas he cut Thomas loose and hired Mateo as a replacement assassin. Thomas has taken Anna, Elena and Ethan to one of his safe houses - the old Ursuline convent in the French Quarter of New Orleans so he could set up his plan for revenge. With the convent no longer safe, Anna, Teeny, and Ethan must find a way out of New Orleans.

They ditch Tyler but end up in a very unpleasant and violent encounter with Mateo. With Ethan badly injured and in need of medical attention, Anna calls Tyler who brings them one of Thomas's safe houses in New Orleans. Anna tells Thomas that she will help him but only if he gets Teeny and Ethan to safety. Thomas tells her that the reason there is a contract out on her is because can identify him and that makes Vega at risk too. Thomas has invited Vega to New Orleans under the guise of making amends. Instead he intends to kill Vega and Mateo using Anna as bait. Tyler and Thomas will disappear and Anna will be free to go back to her life. But after getting Ethan and Teeny to safety, Anna makes a startling discovery about the real truth behind Thomas's plans. Can Anna save herself from a deadly situation that changes minute by minute?

Elston has written a suspenseful thriller that incorporates numerous twists into the storyline, keeping her readers guessing until the ultimate showdown between two assassins.Suspense is well maintained by revealing only bits and pieces of the puzzle and creating many unknowns regarding the storyline and the characters. The author also manages to retell some of the story from the first novel into her narrative without it being too noticeable to the reader, at the same time refreshing her readers memories about what has happened up to this point.

Although the storyline is complex, Elston manages to tie everything together at the end, with a satisfying, believable resolution. She manages to convey the depth to which the cartel penetrated and affected Anna's family, almost destroying them - all because Anna was in the wrong place at the wrong time. To avoid the story becoming too dark, the romantic element between Ethan and Anna tends to lighten things, drawing the focus at times to their concern and affection for one another.

Anna is a courageous, intelligent protagonist who in the end bargains her friend's passage to safety and faces the possibility that she might die at the hands of an assassin. She uses the knowledge she's obtained from Tyler to play the two assassins against one another.

Thomas, so likeable in the beginning of the first novel, is gradually revealed as the cold-blooded assassin he truly is. Through Tyler, we come to understand how Thomas came to be like this and how he manipulates everyone including his own brother.

Elston has indicated she got the idea for her duology from wondering what it would be like to move around and never be able to reveal one's true identity.

This is a well written, fast paced novel, made enjoyable because it's a bit different from the usual offerings in young adult literature. Well recommended for fans of thrillers.

Book Details:
The Rules For Breaking by Ashley Elston
New York: Hyperion Teens       2014
309 pp.

Gravity

Gravity tells the terrifying story of Dr. Ryan Stone as she struggles to survive and return to Earth after disaster strikes her space mission. Stone, a medical engineer, is on her first mission led by veteran astronaut, Matt Kowalsky. The two of them along with Engineer Shariff are on a space walk outside the space shuttle, Explorer. While Kowalsky is on a space walk using an astronaut propulsion unit (MMU), Stone works on a part of the Hubble Space Telescope despite feeling nauseous and Shariff is tethered to the shuttle.

They learn from Mission Control that space debris from a Russian missile test on a satellite will not be a problem for them. What starts as a routine work assignment outside the shuttle soon turns into a disaster of unparallelled proportions as the three astronauts are told they must abort their mission and return as quickly as possible to the shuttle. The debris from the satellite has now crossed into their orbit and is destroying, one after another, the satellites orbiting Earth. The astronauts do not make it to safety and contact is lost with Mission Control.

As the shuttle is pounded by the satellite debris, Shariff is killed as are the crew inside, and Stone is sent spinning into orbit around Earth, untethered to anything. Panicked and breathing rapidly, Dr. Stone is eventually retrieved by Kowalsky who tethers her to him and tells her that they will use his MMU to travel to the International Space Station which is about 100 km away. As they approach the ISS, the two discover that one of the Soyuz capsules is gone while the remaining one has had its parachute deployed and is entangled with the station. Kowalsky tells Stone that the remaining Soyuz can be used to travel to the Chinese station where they can use the module from that station to return to Earth.

Stone and Kowalsky working on Hubble.

Running out of propulsion and oxygen, the two make it to the ISS, but are unable to grab onto the any part of the station. Instead, Stone's foot becomes snagged in the lines of the Soyuz parachute, while Kowalsky misses the station entirely. But because he is tethered to Stone, Kowalsky is prevented from spinning off into space. Realizing that his momentum will eventually pull Stone free of the station, Kowalsky untethers himself from Stone, who begs him not to do this. Instead, Kowalsky encourages Stone to save herself telling her that she can find a way back home. What follows is Stone's struggle to save herself as she encounters one obstacle after another, including at one point losing the will to fight on, only to be encouraged by what appears to be a dream or hallucination of Kowalsky.

Discussion   

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who also wrote the screenplay with his son Jose, Gravity is filled with gorgeous cinematography that captures the stark and deadly beauty of space. Known as a two-hander because it stars only two main characters, the first forty minutes of Gravity morphs from the beauty of a tranquil space walk into unparalleled terror as Dr. Stone catapults through space, unable to right herself due to the lack of gravity. The suspense continues throughout the film as one problem after another appears, and as Stone must face down her deepest fear of dying alone in the cold of space.

Despite some obvious (and not so obvious) errors in the science of space, the movie quite effectively gives viewers a real sense of what it is like to be orbiting around the Earth and working in space with minimal effects of gravity. For the most part, movie-goers will get the general understanding that this is truly an alien environment which requires significant training on the part of the astronauts in order to function at a high level. For example, certain actions when done in space have unexpected consequences. This was shown by Stone attempting to put out a fire in the space station only to knock herself almost senseless by the push of the exhalant from the fire extinguisher.  

In order to recreate the weightlessness of space actress Sandra Bullock who plays the part of Dr. Ryan Stone had to endure filming in what is called a Light Box which is a 6 meter high box outfitted with over 4000 LED bulbs. The lights were used to project images of Earth and space. At other times, Bullock was filmed as she moved underwater or was held suspended by a set of 12 wires which were then manipulated by puppeteers.

Stone struggling to leave the space station.

But Gravity, for all its cinematic beauty and suspense, is really a movie about what's going on in the mind of the main character Dr. Ryan Stone. Stone while talking to Kowalski admits that she does nothing in her life except work and drive. She confesses that her life lost its meaning when her young daughter died in a playground accident.  Unable to come to terms with this loss, unable to let go, she has become a woman totally focused on her work. In an apparition when Stone has given up and decides to die,  Kowalski tells her the precise way for her to survive this current disaster and to come to terms with her daughter's death, is for her to let go. Let go of her fear and let go of the past and decide to live again.

Throughout the movie the overarching theme is one of rebirth, beginning again after a terrible time of trial. When Stone barely manages to make it into the International Space Station after running out of oxygen, we see her curled into a fetal position against the backdrop of the sun shining through the the airlock portal.  The scenes of Stone tethered to several of the different modules reminds us of the fragile nature of existence in space, much like the unborn baby in its mother's womb. At the end of the movie, Stone endures a fiery re-entry only to have to fight for her life, on Earth this time,  struggling out of her heavy space suit and crawling in a primal way out of the lake she has crash landed into. After all this, Ryan Stone rediscovers the beauty of living.

Gravity is only 90 minutes in length but that is more than enough time for viewers to become fully invested emotionally in the story this movie tells. Sandra Bullock deserves another Oscar for her brilliant performance as Ryan Stone and George Clooney with his Buzz Lightyear looks, is perfect in his supporting role as Matt Kowalsky. Gravity may just be the cinematic surprise in a year that sees the second installments of what are sure to be mega-hits, Thor, Hunger Games and The Hobbit.

The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston

This young adult novel has a very unique plot involving a family in the Witness Protection Program and a young girl trying to get her life back.

Seventeen year old senior "Sissy" and her eleven year old sister "Teeny" along with their parents have been in the Witness Protection Program for the past eight months. In that time they have had to move six times after their new identities were compromised.

This time her family is moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana where they are placed in a small cottage. They are now known as Megan (Meg) Rose Jones and Mary Jones. Meg's father is given a manufacturing job and her mother is made to stay at home as she is a completely non-functioning alcoholic at this point.

Meg is determined that this will be her last move. She's lost her identity, her home, her friends, and a boy she liked. Her parents marriage is failing, while her younger sister is becoming increasingly withdrawn and unresponsive.

Seeing her family in chaos and completely dysfunctional, Meg draws up a list of rules for disappearing:
1. I will not join any clubs.
2. I will not try out for cheerleading or any other sport/team.
3. I will not make any friends.
4. I will discover the truth no matter what.

For Meg, number 4 is the most important. She is determined to learn why her family was placed in the program and why they are being moved so much. She does not want to move again.

Meg attends Natchitoches High School where, almost immediately, she attracts the attention of handsome Ethan Landry who works on his family's farm. Meg manages to get a job working at a nearby pizza place owned by Ethan's Aunt Pearl. This job gives Meg an escape from the almost insurmountable problems at home and helps her cope with the stress. She is suffering from terrible nightmares as well as a loss of memory of the events leading up to their placement into the Witness Protection Program.

Although Meg tries her best to scare off Ethan, he continues to pursue her, convincing her to let him drive her to and from school. He frequents his Aunt's pizza place where he forms a rapport with Meg's younger sister Mary, teaching her how to make pizza. This gradually begins to heal Mary and brings her out of her shell.

Although Meg tries to suppress her feelings for Ethan and to push him away emotionally, she finds him irresistible and they soon become a couple. Ethan has suspected early on that Meg is not from Arkansas and he confronts her over her identity. But Meg refuses to answer Ethan's questions, even when he confronts her later on with evidence that she is someone else. Her motive is to try to protect Ethan.

Meg attempts to find out from both her parents about what caused their placement in protection, but she is refused at every attempt. Meanwhile one of the FBI agents or "suits" approaches Meg expressing concern for her family. When Meg asks Agent Thomas to tell her what happened he tells her that if she just thinks about it she will "figure it out". This leads Meg to try to focus on what she remembers from the night of the party, even though it's obvious what she experienced was very traumatic.

When Meg's mother inadvertently reveals a clue, this leads Meg to regain most of her memory over what happened that night. She confronts her father who fills in some of the details. Meg decides she needs to take action in an attempt to free her family from the witness protection program. With Ethan by her side and some help from a few friends, Meg travels across the country to retrieve something she hopes will free herself and her family.

The Rules for Disappearing is an interesting novel with a unique storyline. It is part mystery, part suspense and part romance. Elston immediately grabs her readers interest with Meg and her family being assigned new identities and shuttled into a new life in Louisiana. The mystery of what caused her family to be placed in protection is gradually revealed through several twists in the plot. Eventually readers learn about Meg's past and the events that led to her family's current predicament.  But Elston leaves a few loose ends that will lead to a second installment in this new series.

Meg is a strong heroine who fights for her freedom and to regain her life. This is in contrast to her parents who seem unable to cope with what has happened. Her boyfriend Ethan is probably the most attractive character in this novel as he's witty, understanding and courageous. His tenacity matches that of Meg, whom he finds himself very attracted to. Elston highlights the renowned southern hospitality as evidenced by the actions of Ethan Landry and his family.

Those readers looking for something a little different will enjoy this well paced novel.

Book Details:
The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
New York: Hyperion    2013
312 pp.

The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist

Veronika lives with three other girls on an isolated island, along with Irene and Robbert who take care of them. Veronika, Caroline, Isobel, and Eleanor are all very different looking girls but are also very much the same. Veronika's hair is red, while Caroline has brown hair, Isobel is blond, and Eleanor's hair is black. All four have been on the island as long as they can remember. They have been told by Irene and Robbert that they are orphans and that their parents died in the same plane accident on a nearby island.

The girls are woken every morning by Irene from a dreamless sleep and after breakfast go for walks around the island. At first, all would go on the same walk but gradually Irene would teach them to go for walks by themselves and explore their surroundings.

One evening after a severe storm, Irene and the four girls go for a walk along the beach. Veronika discovers a girl face down in the grass near the bush. It is immediately apparent to the four girls that this girl is not like them. Seriously injured, the girl is taken to their classroom and is treated for her injuries. Veronika and the rest of the girls are told to stay away from this girl but eventually the girl, whose name is May and the four island girls meet. May is horrified by what they are and is angry and mean to them.

As Veronika tells her story, we learn what the four girls are, and that they are basically hiding from the world on this island. This makes May's leaving the island and impossibility because Irene and Robbert are fearful that she will tell others what she saw on the island. However, they may be too late to save their precious experiment on a hidden island, regardless of what they decide about May.

Gordon Dahlquist is a playwright and novelist and has indicated that this book began as a libretto for an opera many years ago! Told in Veronika's simple, direct voice, Dahlquist effectively captures the isolated and strange life of these unique four girls. Very quickly, the reader understands just what the four girls are and how they are experiencing the world around them.

However, using Veronika as a narrator is also the main difficulty with this novel. We are see the world through Veronika's eyes and therefore, we have a very limited understanding of what is going on, since Veronika's existence is so narrow. This means the reader knows only what Veronika knows. Initially, this sets up the mystery of who or what Veronika and the girls are but this is quickly resolved by the end of the first chapter (and unfortunately, is given away by the cover of the novel). This then leads into a second problem of how everyone will react to the appearance of May and how the problem of May will be resolved. However, the appearance and resolution of a third problem, that of the appearance of more people to their secret island,  is a muted experience for the reader because we experience it through Veronika who is in hiding. This all makes for a disappointing ending.

Dahlquist gives us hints at what the outside world is like when May tells the girls that people hate them and that they are destroyed.

"'I didn't know anything,' said May. 'I'd only heard, but hearing isn't real -- and everyone knows not to trust it. and nothing like that -- like you -- is tolerated, not any more,not in any towns. ...."

This leads us to understand that Irene and Robbert came to the island to escape harm and to continue their experiment unmolested.

May is a disappointing character as she is never truly developed - again likely because we are viewing her through the eyes of Veronika. The same applies to Robbert who just seems to be a filler character.

The cover will lead many readers to pick up the novel, but most will be disappointed with the storyline, the lack of character development and the hanging ending.

Book Details:
The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
Toronto: Dutton Books    2013
230 pp.

Shadowlands by Kate Brian

At a first glance, Shadowlands by Kate Brian appears to be psychological thriller involving a serial killer. However, as the novel moves along, it morphs into a blend of horror and mystery that draws the reader in to the very end.

One day after school, Rory Miller takes a shortcut through the woods near her home, only to be stalked and attacked by her math teacher, Mr. Nell (isn't that every high schooler's nightmare!). In a stroke of luck, Steven Nell slips and Rory fights back, escaping to the road. There she is picked up by her new boyfriend, Christopher, who calls police. It turns out Nell is serial killer, Roger Krauss, who has murdered fourteen girls in the past decade and who has been the subject of an intensive FBI manhunt. The Miller's are ordered to remain sequestered in their home, because Nell has a history of murdering a girl's entire family when he fails to succeed in a first attempt. When police fail to catch Nell, and he demonstrates that he won't be denied Rory, the FBI decide to send the Miller's far away with new identities. But, Nell, notorious for his brilliance, continues to stalk the Millers.

Rory, along with her older sister, Darcy, and their father travel nonstop to Juniper Landing, an island off of South Carolina. During the trip, Rory falls asleep and has a nightmare involving Nell. When she wakes up she is still in the car with her Dad and Darcy, on the ferry to Juniper Landing.

Rory's relief at being on an island soon gives way to a vague unsettled feeling. The island has no phone or internet service and is often surrounding by a creeping fog that blocks out the mainland. Rory and Darcy meet a group of young people; Tristan and Krista whose mom is the mayor of the island, as well as Joaquin and Aaron. Rory's unease increases as she learns that Tristan is watching her from the house across the street.But when people begin disappearing and others on the island don't seem to remember their existence, Rory enters a state bordering on panic. Added to this are signs that Steven Nell has indeed followed Rory to Juniper Landing? Convinced that she and others are in grave danger, Rory begins pressing Tristan and Joaquin for answers. What is going on?

In many ways this novel was both bizarre and fascinating. The situations with the FBI and how they handled Rory's family lacked realism. Rory arrives home in Christopher's car to find her house surrounded by police cruisers while there doesn't seem to be any organized manhunt of the woods (using helicopters and infrared cameras for example) where Rory was attacked. One week after the attack, when their house is broken into, the FBI sends the Millers off on their own to an unknown destination, with new identities.

However, Brian does a great job at ramping up the suspense as Rory struggles to figure out what is happening, while also dropping the reader numerous clues. The presence of a methodical, brilliant killer, mysterious happenings on Juniper Landing, dense fog that seems to have a will of its own, and three deadly encounters with a serial killer keep the tension high.

The story is told mostly from Rory's point of view, but Brian occasionally adds a second narrator, that of the killer, Nell. His chapters are very well done, and especially creepy. Readers may guess at where Rory is and what's happened, but for most part, the ending is a surprise.

A great novel, with a puzzling cover that seems unsuited to the horror and suspense of the story.

The book trailer is well done:


Book Details:
Shadowlands by Kate Brian
New York: Hyperion    2012
328 pp.

Partials by Dan Wells

Partials tells the story of a post-apocalyptic society in what was the eastern seaboard of the United States in the year 2076. 

Mankind has been destroyed by the Partials who are genetically "engineered organic beings identical to humans". The Partials were built by a company called ParaGen to fight in the Isolation War, which they won handily. Five years later, they turned on humans. Faster and stronger than ordinary humans, linked to one another and highly efficient, they easily wiped them out. 

The Partials released the RM virus, a specially designed virus that quickly killed virtually every human being on the planet. Only a small percentage of humans were immune and survived the pandemic, but any children born afterwards, continued to die.

The survivors of the war and the virus, retreated to Long Island where they found food and shelter. There they organized a government consisting of twenty senators and built a Defense Grid to protect themselves. Meanwhile, the Partials disappeared, retreating inland. No one has seen a Partial in eleven years.

Since the Break, every human baby born has died from the RM virus. The youngest child, Saladin, is now fourteen years old. To try to counter deaths caused by the RM virus, the government enacted the Hope Act which required women of a certain age to have babies in the hope that some might survive. Instead, all babies have continued to sicken at birth and to die hours later. It seems that there is no hope left for the remnants of humanity.

When sixteen year old medic, Kira, learns that her friends, Madison and Haru, are expecting their first child, she is determined that she will find a cure for RM. Up until now, researchers have been studying only the babies and she feels that there is something they are missing. Kira discovers that the virus has been studied from all possible angles, except the source - the Partials who are immune. In order to do this, Kira realizes that they need to find a Partial and take samples or bring one back to study. She believes that somehow there is a connection between the two. When she approaches a senior researcher with her idea, she is told this is impossible. Undeterred Kira, organizes a group to go out to the mainland - to Manhattan, with the intent of capturing a Partial.

The sortie is successful and Kira manages to capture a male Partial. Although furious with her for doing so, the government gives Kira permission to study the Partial, named Samm, with the stipulation that after five days he will be destroyed. She begins her studies on him, but when the government attempts to use the captured Partial to gain total control over the society, Kira realizes she must free Samm and take him back to the mainland. Samm reveals to Kira and the Senators, that the Partials are dying off. ParaGen designed Partials with an expiration date. At twenty years of age, the process that halts their aging begins reversing and the Partials literally rot alive. Because of this Samm claims that he and his company were on their way to the human settlement to offer a truce, when they were attacked.

However, when the Senator's learn of the Partials predicament, they want no part of helping them. Instead they decide to publicly execute Samm and let everyone know that the Partials which were created twenty-one years ago will all be dead within three years. In an attempt to bring a group of rebels known as The  Voice back under government control, the Senators want to use Samm as the scapegoat for a bomb attack on Kira's lab.

As expected, things don't go according to plan and Kira is captured by a group of Partials intent on experimenting on her to try to find a solution to their expiration problem.  During her capture, Kira not only manages to piece together the information she needs, but encounters a shocking revelation that directly affects her future.

Discussion

Partials is an exciting novel, packed with action, suspense and multiple twists in the plotline. The main attraction of this novel is the human-like organic beings, the Partials, who are essentially engineered weapons. Despite having human DNA, they are considered non-human and treated with fear and disgust by society. But when Kira finally meets a Partial, Samm, she begins to understand that in many ways he is very much like humans. As she begins to understand him and know him better, her views on Partials change.

The novel has a strong female protagonist in Kira Walker, a courageous, take-charge young woman who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity. Kira is supported by a large cache of unique characters; Marcus her boyfriend, Jayden who is the brother of Madison her best friend, and Partials, Samm and Heron. While Kira and Samm are well rounded characters, many of the secondary characters are not.

Partials has a well described post-apocalyptic world. Wells portrays a world ravaged by war fought only too effectively by genetically engineered soldiers and a ruined humanity. The reader is presented with a harrowing view of life where every single baby dies. It is a society without hope and no future.

There are several weak points in the novel. The idea of the RM virus is incredibly complex and because it is gradually revealed throughout the story, it was difficult to follow Kira's eventual deciphering of how it works. The division of the  novel into disparate time chunks is also confusing. The first part is the present, followed by Part 2 which takes place three months later, followed by Part 3 which is titled Four Hours Later.

Despite these minor flaws, Partials is one of the better dystopian young adult novels. It touches on the issue genetic engineering and the difficult and unexpected problems that might arise from engineering new human-like life. The dramatic conclusion of this novel suggests an exciting second novel in the series.

Book Details:
Partials by Dan Wells
New York: Balzer & Bray 2012
470pp.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane adapted by Christian DeMetter

This is a graphic novel adaptation of Lehane's Shutter Island. I haven't read the original but the graphic novel was fantastic and has peaked my interest in reading Lehane's novel.
Shutter Island is a mixture of part gothic mystery and suspense. Briefly, the plot is as follows:

"In 1954 US Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule are sent to Shutter Island to find a mass murderer who has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital, a fortress-like fedreal institutions for the criminally insane. As an intense hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, the marshals are forced to piece together clues to a shocking puzzle hidden within Shutter Island...."

In reality, Teddy Daniels instead of searching for a missing prisoner becomes increasingly consumed with finding the prisoner Andrew Laeddis who is responsible for murdering his wife. But what is reality? And just who really is Andrew Laeddis. This graphic novel plunges headlong to its shocking, twisted ending.

I loved the artwork which I believe is exceptional in this book. And I got enough of the plot to want to read the full novel. What could be better to draw teens into reading the novel than a good graphic novel adaptation!

Highly recommended.

Book Details:

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane  & Christian De Metter
Harper Collins    2010