Unraveling

by Elizabeth Norris

Overview

Like The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Elizabeth Norris’s Unraveling blends realistic coming-of-age issues with a gripping science fiction world.

Unraveling’s heroine, sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner, is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle’s mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died…and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth’s destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062103741
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/23/2013
Series:	Unraveling , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	445
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the San Diego beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's chilly winters. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together. Unraveling is her first novel.

What People are Saying About This

Pittacus Lore

“This high-stakes thriller—complete with mind-bending sci-fi twist—will hook you and never let go.”—

Andrea Cremer

“If Veronica Mars snatched a case from Mulder and Scully, you’d get this fast-paced page-turner. With a heroine full of moxie, wicked surprises around every corner, and non-stop action, UNRAVELING is an irresistible thriller.”

Editorial Reviews

Leav[es] the reader wanting more and begging for a sequel to this multilayered debut.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Readers will enjoy the nonstop action and romance.” — School Library Journal

“A satisfying puzzle full of novel twists and provocative clues.” — Publishers Weekly

“This high-stakes thriller—complete with mind-bending sci-fi twist—will hook you and never let go.”— — Pittacus Lore, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Am Number Four

“If Veronica Mars snatched a case from Mulder and Scully, you’d get this fast-paced page-turner. With a heroine full of moxie, wicked surprises around every corner, and non-stop action, UNRAVELING is an irresistible thriller.” — Andrea Cremer, New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade trilogy

From the Publisher

This high-stakes thriller—complete with mind-bending sci-fi twist—will hook you and never let go.”—

Pittacus Lore

Leav[es] the reader wanting more and begging for a sequel to this multilayered debut.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

If Veronica Mars snatched a case from Mulder and Scully, you’d get this fast-paced page-turner. With a heroine full of moxie, wicked surprises around every corner, and non-stop action, UNRAVELING is an irresistible thriller.

Andrea Cremer

In this complex SF mystery, debut writer Norris conceives of parallel universes that can inadvertently collide and destruct when portals between them are opened, a predicament facing Earth if 17-year-old Janelle Tenner's theory is correct. Janelle's father is a workaholic FBI agent, her bipolar mother is hardly functioning, and Janelle herself was just killed by an out-of-control car and brought back to life by classmate Ben Michaels. Janelle had always dismissed Ben as a stoner, but after he saves her, she is powerfully drawn to him. She also suspects that there might be a connection between recent deaths that her father has been investigating and her accident. When Norris's story works, it's a satisfying puzzle full of novel twists and provocative clues. A protective older sister and defiant FBI agent-in-training, Janelle is a courageous, layered heroine. But the chemistry between Janelle and Ben is faint, relying on familiar paranormal romance devices, and some plot elements are convoluted. A planned sequel will surely offer more challenges for Janelle, Ben, and planet Earth. Ages 13–up. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management. (May)

Publishers Weekly

In a refreshing change of pace from the current glut of angel books, when Janelle is killed in a car accident, she doesn't move on to a seraphic afterlife; she's brought back from the dead instead. Her savior is stoner Ben, and even as he is bringing her back to life she notices his "huge brown eyes,… wavy dark hair [and] tortured half smile." Janelle needs to be alive. Her mother has withdrawn into total bipolar uselessness, and though her X-Files–obsessed, FBI-agent father is fabulous, he works insane hours, so Janelle holds the family together. Through some efficient snooping in her dad's office, Janelle learns that people are turning up melted--including the person in the car that hit her. And there's mention of a countdown to an event that could destroy the Earth. Could there be a connection? First-time author Norris surrounds her likable narrator with equally appealing and complex primary and secondary characters, compensating for a relatively slow pace. Plotting is not quite so strong, particularly in the book's science-fiction elements. Ben's healing ability is given a ludicrously vague explanation, and the potential Earth-ending event is made only barely more credible. Still, the writing is smooth, and the love story satisfies despite its predictability. Good for romance fans, if not science-fiction aficionados. (Science fiction/thriller/romance. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews