Review: Wish it had been smartened up for an adult audience
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2014
The book is aimed at teenagers, particularly teenage girls. It taps into universal pubescent angst: no one understands them, they are isolated yet unique, they are gifted but their gifts must be hidden and - most importantly - somewhere there is a gifted boy meant for them. He's strong and honest, handsome and perfect. At the same time, they're persecuted and live in constant peril.This would have been a lot better if it had been written for an adult audience as a suspense or horror novel. I found the premise very interesting. Consider all the books in which some young girl has almost supernatural powers, like Carrie by Stephen King, or The Fury by John Farris.  It would have been improved by added back story, since that gifted boy is given short shrift compared to our heroine, Liz. I liked it a lot, but there were some flaws that could have been cleaned up, like an unattractive secondary character who seems to be a budding sociopath. The time frame is also a bit off; things happen way too fast. Finally, there are some shades of other popular YA novels; nothing too derivative, but enough for me to notice them. The way Liz is bored in class because she already knows everything reminded me of Edward Cullen of the Twilight series, forever trapped in high school and trying to seem like an average student, although Liz is purely human. The way Liz tries to help the authorities solve crimes reminded me of Lisa McMann's Wake series.Despite those problems, I really enjoyed this book and I think the author has a lot of potential.