Member Reviews
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Twenty-four hours. That's all it takes for the lives of two young people to be changed forever.
Alex Chin has the world on a plate. A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, his future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. She plans to turn her NASA internship into a career.
When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered. Then, his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it's after him.
Alex flees. He tells Samantha not to follow, but she became involved the moment she walked through his door and found Mr. and Mrs. Chin as they lay dying in their home. She cannot abandon the young man she loves. The two race desperately to stay ahead of Alex's attackers long enough to figure out why they are hunting him in the first place. The answer lies with a secret buried deep in his past, a secret his parents died to protect. Alex always knew he was adopted, but he never knew the real reason his birth parents abandoned him. He never knew where he truly came from. Until now.
*2.5 stars*
This was pretty much the epitome of "It was okay..."
Positives: not a lot of high points for me but if forced to find something that stood out, I would have to say the pacing. Regardless of what was going on with the plot or characters, the book was always chugging forward...
Negatives: the biggest negative I can give is that this is so full of cliches and stereotypes, I didn't really connect with it at all: all the melodrama of a YA romance novel; all the suspense of an action story with short chapters with "mini-cliffhangers" at the end of every one; and the ending was about as obvious as one could expect, setting it up for more books in the series.
I think this may have worked better as an adult fiction novel - or at least leaving the romance part out and focusing on the "mystery" part of the novel.
Paul
ARH
This YA novel, co-written by Jon Land and Heather Graham, I give a 2 and 1/2 to 3 stars. Writing is fine, sf plot line is nice, but I found it a bit formulaic.
When I first saw this book at BEA in Chicago I wanted to read it since I enjoy reading both Heather Graham and Jon Land books. I wanted to see what kind of a story they could put together. Ther books have always been so different. This book has lots of adventures and a developing love story. I enjoyed both.