Gone

Gone By Michael Grant

What would you do if all the adults just suddenly disappeared? Run, scream, hide, take action, do things you were never allowed to do before? There’s no one stopping you, so why don’t you? And then erupts complete chaos and tyranny.

In the simple town of Perdido Beach, California, everyone over fifteen suddenly disappears. Gone. Just like that. Leaving nothing to explain why, or how, any of it happened.

There is confusion everywhere. The younger are dependent upon the older, but who are the older to look to for help?

A burn-to-the-touch sphere surrounds the entire area, blocking any way in, and more importantly, any way out. Within this unworldly like area, strange things are happening. Evolution has sped up a thousand fold. Coyotes can talk, seagulls have talons, and snakes have wings. But it isn’t just the animals that are mutating. The kids are developing strange powers that enable them to do things no human should be able to do. Cancel gravity, move things with their minds, sprint at the speed of a car burning rubber. It’s all impossible! And yet it’s happening. Sam, Astrid, Quinn, Lana, and other kids must step up and try to keep control, while another group of kids, led by Caine, Diana, and Drake, threaten to take Perdido Beach for their own and turn the town into a deadly battle-zone. A war is coming, and everyone knows it. A sinister creature lurks in the background, looking for its way to escape. The fabric of society in Perdido Beach is quickly unraveling. And the small, distant boy “Little Pete” holds the power that no one expects, and no one can exceed.

Gone, the first book in the riveting Gone series, is a masterpiece. At once, this novel captivated me and into the first few pages I knew I had found a stay-up-until-three-in-the-morning-reading-until-your-finished kind of book. The realistically thinking characters and stellar plot kept me hooked until the very end. I recommend this book to anyone who loves an action, a mystery, or just anyone who can read.

—Harrison Pyros