Available at Amazon.com

Story: A teenage girl, Tory Brennan (related to the famous –or infamous—Temperance Brennan of BONES) becomes curious about a mysterious disappearance that happened well before her time. With several of her friends (Sheldon, Ben and Hi) they all begin to search for clues. To complicate matters, the kids hang out on an island that is home to numerous scientific experiments. Before long, they stumble upon more than they expect. Due to a series of events related and unrelated to their investigations, they become infected with an experimental virus that transforms them into werewolves – of a sort. Now, instead of being just friends they are a pack, bound to each other through good and bad. There’s a good mix of the scientific and the supernatural in this novel.

Characters: Unlike the female leads in some YA books, Tory Brennan is a strong, intelligent girl that doesn’t let her emotions get in the way of discovering the truth. Her friends are all boys, but that doesn’t stop her from being herself. As for the rest of her crew, (Sheldon, Ben and Hi), they are equally interesting characters and it’s entertaining to read along with their adventures.

Overall: While the story itself was pretty good – who doesn’t like an underdog, heh, heh – I will say that I wasn’t too fond of the ending. It was pretty predictable and somewhat disappointing in that. But then, it’s YA, written for a tween/teen audience, so I guess a little predictability is to be expected. Also, the point of this novel is to establish characters and a situation that will play into other stories later, so again the weak wrapping-up of the ending can probably excused.

I would recommend it for anyone interested in YA, especially teens.

Review by Nancy Greene

Tags | ya-fiction