Gone by Michael Grant

How did this one slip under my radar for so long?!  

One minute, Sam is sitting in class zoning out like a normal teenager.  The next minute, his teacher and some of his classmates have disappeared.  Just POOF!  There one minute, gone the next.  Within minutes, Sam and his friends learn that everyone fifteen and older in Perdido Beach is gone, without a trace.  Reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, Gone is a fast-paced page-turner that you won’t want to put down.

What happened to all of the adults?  Cars are left running, stoves are still on, and young babies are left alone.  Could it have something to do with the nuclear power station in town? Nobody can figure out what is happening as panic starts to set in. Most of the kids begin to wander Perdido Beach, looking for someone to take charge; Sam is an obvious choice (he once saved a bus full of kids) but he doesn’t want to take the lead. He is afraid his strange “powers” may have started all of this and he doesn’t want anyone to find out. His friend, Astrid, is aware that her autistic brother, Little Pete, also has special powers, but she is reluctant to let anyone know.  But when the students from Coates Academy, the school on the outskirts of town for “troubled” kids, including Caine, their ringleader, come down to the town they set themselves up as the new rulers of the FAYZ, as they now call Perdido Beach.  

As Sam, Astrid, Little Pete, Quinn, and Edilio work together to survive they discover things are even weirder than they first thought- they discover they are living within a ten-mile radius around the nuclear power plant that is bounded by a barrier they cannot see any end to, see through, or even touch without harming themselves.  And that’s not strangest thing in the FAYZ.  There are talking coyotes, seagulls with talons, and flying snakes.  Not to mention the strange “powers” that more and more kids seem to be developing.

I couldn’t put this one down.  Thank goodness there is a sequel coming out this summer!  I can’t wait to find out how the kids continue to react and adapt in the FAYZ.  

 

Check out this awesome book trailer for Gone .