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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Rush, J. 2013 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | TEEN Rush, J. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
They were made to forget. But they'll never forgive.
Everything about Anna's life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch, at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There's Nick, solemn and brooding; Cas, light-hearted and playful; Trev, smart and caring; and Sam . . . who's stolen Anna's heart.
When the Branch decides it's time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape. Anna's father pushes her to go with them, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs .
On the run, with her father's warning in her head, Anna begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about herself. She soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they're both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.
Author Notes
Jennifer Rush is the author of Devils & Thieves and the Altered Saga. She currently lives in Michigan with her family, where the winters make her grumpy and the summers make her forget the winters. When not writing, she can be found curled up with a good book or out wandering, either by foot or by car. She dreams of seeing the world someday (as long as it's not winter).
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Four hot guys are locked in rooms below Anna's house: Trev (literary, erudite, yoga practitioner); Cas (artistic, funny, sporty); Nick (cynical, grouchy, vain); and Sam (caring, agile, a leader). Now 18, Anna has interacted with "the units" imprisoned in her father's underground lab for five years, and when she's not being homeschooled, baking cookies, or doing combat training, she helps with blood draws and data collection, occasionally sneaking down for midnight chess games. She's developed special ties with Trev and Sam, and a crush is turning into love. The action kicks in when representatives from the Branch (the secret organization overseeing project OP ALPHA) arrive to take the boys to a new location. They turn the tables, kill most of the Branch team, and flee with Anna as willing accomplice. The science behind the "altering" process is vague. Rush often tells readers that the information is "classified," but she does reveal that experiments in genetic alteration have given the boys a special connection and made them "more than human." Their memories were wiped clean in the process, leading to puzzles dealing with coded scars and tattoos. Those expecting hard science fiction will be disappointed, but readers seeking a "teens on the run" plot featuring surprising twists and turns, romantic entanglements, hard stomachs and curved muscles, and innocent-but-mischievous smiles will come away satisfied.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Rush's action-packed debut, first in a planned series, homeschooled 18-year-old Anna Mason has a life ruled by secrecy. Her widower father works for a clandestine organization called the Branch, and four gorgeous genetically altered teenage boys live in the basement laboratory of their New York State farmhouse. Anna feels especially connected to one of the boys, Sam, even though he, like the others, has no memories of life outside his basement cell. When the Branch tries to collect "the units," chaos erupts, and Sam, Anna, and the others take off on the run. Together, they drive across several states, decoding a trail of clues and bringing Anna and Sam closer than ever. Anna is refreshingly and realistically uncomfortable with the ongoing violence surrounding their escape. Her interactions with the boys (whose somewhat one-note personas-the leader, the smart one, the hothead, and the goofball-can't help recalling another product of genetic manipulation, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) keep the story moving quickly, along with a steady unfolding of revelations and events. Ages 12-up. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary and Media. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Anna's father has a secret lab in their basement where he experiments on four superhuman teenage boys who have no idea who they used to be. When the boys break out, Anna goes with them and discovers that her past is connected to theirs. This science-fiction mystery will captivate fans of The Bourne Identity and other fast-paced thrillers. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ignore the shaky start--within minutes, this medical-engineering thriller will have readers glued to their seats. In the farmhouse upstairs, Anna and her widower dad lead a quiet life. Downstairs, the four surgically altered boys whom Anna has tended and her dad has studied for five years live in comfortable, isolated cells. Home-schooled Anna is isolated, too, her mother's treasured, annotated cookbook their only connection. Though Anna's attached to the boys, even sullen Nick, Sam is the one she sneaks down to see at night. She knows the boys are human lab rats in a project run by the Branch, a private company funded by the government, and dreams of freeing them, but it's Sam who masterminds their escape when Branch agents show up to end the project. Urged by her dad, the boys take Anna with them. With no memory of life before the farmhouse and few clues to guide them to safety, their quest to understand what has happened to them yields fewer answers than questions, especially for Anna, whose own memories increasingly appear suspect. In the desperate race to find answers before the Branch agents find them, Anna clings to what she knows is true: her love for Sam. A surfeit of casual violence detracts from the ending, but this debut's strengths--pacing and plot twists, especially--outweigh the deficits. Riveting. (Science fiction. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Anna lives with four boys who are not her brothers Nick, the brooding bad boy; Trev, the thoughtful intellectual; Cas, the carefree jock; and Sam, their mysterious leader. What sounds like a lighthearted shojo manga in novel form is actually a rapid-fire thriller as Sam leads the escape from the farmhouse, where all four genetically altered boys were imprisoned in the basement. The boys, who don't remember anything about their lives before they were imprisoned, take Anna hostage as insurance, and slowly, Anna and the boys begin to piece together the true nature of their relationship. This exciting debut novel does not break any new ground, but it provides enough twists and turns to keep readers engaged and wondering if there will be a next volume. Fans of the Hunger Games and Maze Runner series seeking more dystopian titles would likely enjoy this new adventure.--Mack, Candice Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Debut author Rush's unforgettable YA novel addresses the challenges of learning that you can't rely on your own memories. Annie and the four genetically altered boys who live in her basement escape from the Branch and are on the run while trying to piece together their lives. What they learn is shocking and deadly. Will they be able to beat the Branch and get their freedom? The story is fast paced and holds listeners' attention until every twist has come and gone. Casey Holloway does a decent job narrating, though at times it sounds a bit choppy. However, the story is so well done that you cannot help but be drawn into their world as they struggle to put the pieces of their lives together. Verdict Fans of SF and fantasy YA novels as well as those who enjoy psychological thrillers will appreciate this title.-Stephanie Charlefour, Wixom P.L., MI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.