The Taking

Gr 8 Up—In this compulsively readable sci-fi novel, Kyra, 16, impulsively jumps from a car while arguing with her father and disappears in a burst of light. She wakes up with no memory of what happened. She thinks it's the next day, but is terrified to discover five years have passed and she hasn't aged a day. Her mother's remarried, her boyfriend Austin's in college and dating her best friend, and her fastidious father has become a drunken conspiracy theorist who believes she was abducted by aliens. The only comfort and support she gets is from Austin's little brother, Tyler, an extremely grown-up and very cute 17-year-old. Her father's theories don't seem that crazy as Kyra begins manifesting new physical abilities—she rarely feels tired or needs to eat and heals quickly. After several people whom she's come into close contact with die and sinister National Security Agency agents swarm her house wearing hazmat suits, the mysterious boy who helps her get away confirms her fears. Like him, Kyra is one of the Returned. She's more deadly to others, especially Tyler, than she ever imagined. Readers will sympathize with Kyra's predicament, although she's frequently self-centered and the story dwells too much on her and Tyler's mutual attraction. The characters' memory loss means there's no backstory about why they disappeared in the first place. Hopefully, that will be further explained in the next book in the projected trilogy. Nevertheless, the exciting plot zips along, leaving readers impatiently waiting for the next installment.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton