Lynn McBride is a young girl living in a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter with her family, forced to become a hunter-gatherer in the small settlement they call home.
But her family has a secret.
Lynn has a secret.
And when a stranger wanders into their camp bringing danger in his stead, suddenly all their lives take an unexpected turn.
This was a really good read and by the end, I was very pleased to discover that a follow-up book is in the works.
It’s a bit of a young-adult book aimed probably more at teenagers, but it is very well written and though, at times, it threatens to travel familiar ground, there are enough twists and turns, thrills and spills, here to keep this very entertaining!!
A very strong 4/ 5 stars.
Book 31 this year is The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
A young lad wakes up in an elevator, slowly winding its way up to the surface, only to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings with no idea of who he is or how he got there.
It soon becomes apparent that he is not alone; there are other kids like him who have likewise been abducted; that the others have been there for some time; and that they are all trapped there, on the outskirts of a vast maze, with no hope of escape and walls that move around at the end of each day just to complicate things even further.
Thomas becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of where they are and who put them there, but then another new arrival emerges from below, a girl this time, and suddenly everything is all thrown into chaos.
Another Y/A book, The Maze Runner was made into a film not so long ago and though I haven’t seen it, this book on which it is based is very good indeed.
The action moves at a very fast pace, and there is enough mystery here to keep you wanting to read right up until the end.
This was another book I really enjoyed, despite it perhaps not being aimed at my age range, and I look forward to reading more in the series.
Another strong 4/5
Finally, book 32 for this year is Stephen King’s latest, The Institute.
In a small town in Maine, hidden away in the woods, there is a secret base where talented children are being experimented on.
Luke is brought to this base, after being abducted, and soon joins a small group of other children who all possess minimal psychic ability, but right from the start he becomes determined to escape.
Meanwhile, a former cop takes a job in another small town, several hundred miles away, and soon becomes something of a local hero after helping to stop an armed robbery.
Before long, their two lives will intersect and when they do, nothing will ever be the same.
This is another great Stephen King book and again, I really enjoyed this. There are a few subtle nods back to his earlier works as usual, but overall this is a stand-alone story that is almost a spiritual successor to the likes of Firestarter with its sinister, government organisation that claims to be doing what it’s doing for ‘the greater good.’
If you’re a life-long Stephen King can, like me, this is right up there with some of his classics 4/5 stars
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