Deborah Biancotti

Each of the five teens in "the Zeroes" has a unique supernatural ability; Thibault, for instance, is impossible for people to remember or even notice without serious effort. Leader Nate ("Bellwether") gives the Zeroes code names—Thibault's is "Anonymous"—and runs simulated training missions (training for what, exactly, is not immediately clear, and never really becomes so). An opportunity for a real mission arises when a Zero gets himself into serious trouble: Ethan ("Scam") uses his preternaturally persuasive voice first to obtain a duffel bag full of cash, and then again in an ill-advised attempt to outmaneuver some bank robbers. The Zeroes jail-break Ethan, who's being questioned by the police, and in the process they cross paths with Kelsie, another gifted teen. At five-hundred-plus pages, with six main characters' stories to follow (the third-person chapters rotate perspective), this series opener occasionally struggles to maintain its pace, although curiosity about the various characters and how their storylines relate—prior to the introduction of the Zeroes as a team