Gone by Michael Grant

Well for starters, I ended up reading a quarter of the way into the sequel before realizing that it was the sequel. As I do with all books before reading them, I read the inside cover for a short synopsis to help me decide whether I wanted to read it or not. This one seemed interesting to me so I decided I would try it. As it turns out, Gone, by Michael Grant, is about a town called Perdido Beach that out of nowhere has all of its adults and kids over the age of fourteen disappear. This is in fact where the book actually starts, right after the main character Sam Temple and his class watch their teacher disappear. Sam, his friends Quinn, Astrid, and Edilio, and Astrid’s younger, autistic brother “Little Pete” form a group and work to survive in a world ruled by bullies and without any type of help that adults can offer such as fire departments, police, and government. If things weren’t bad enough, the whole community is surrounded by a giant bubble called the FAYZ (Fallout Ally Youth Zone). Eventually people begin to develop supernatural abilities such as the ability to shoot fire from their hands. Matters get worse when a large group of rich kids lead by Cain, his psychopathic right hand man Drake, and seductive left hand Diana move in to take over.
The book is really engaging and there are a lot of plot twisters that you may or may not expect as well as a few minor “power” struggles all leading up to… Well you’ll just have to find out.

Review by student Noah K.