Publishers Weekly
05/01/2023
Upon escaping captivity, 16-year-old Willow Lafayette must cooperate with an unknown teen to survive a deadly pandemic in this harrowing thriller by Balog (The Night). When Willow wakes up tied to a bed in a barren, ramshackle room, she has no idea where she is or how she got there. Her entire world now consists only of a one-eyed cat who meanders in and out with Granny, an old woman who force-feeds her medication that “makes my mind fuzzy.” Granny won’t tell Willow anything about her situation and leaves her alone for long stretches of time. Things get stranger when Granny’s cat suddenly dies, followed by Granny herself, from what Willow assumes is the bunyavirus—a pandemic sickness commonly called the screw that was rapidly spreading before her captivity. She’s soon released by a gruff boy named Elijah, who informs her that dangerous monsters are roaming around outside. As the two combat untold horrors, Willow confronts devastating revelations about her new reality. Willow is a courageous protagonist whose mettle and drive to survive, paired with Balog’s propulsive prose, renders this an engrossing and fascinating adventure. Characters read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Mandy Hubbard, Emerald City Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
"Nothing short of fantastic. Everytime readers think they know the way the plot is going, it takes a sharp turn... a perfect fit for young adult and adult readers who like a suspenseful read." — Youth Services Book Review
"An engrossing and fascinating adventure." — Publishers Weekly
"An unsettling thriller that will leave readers questioning what’s real." — Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-29
A teenage girl in Pensacola, Florida, fights to uncover the mystery of her current reality in a horrifying new world.
When 16-year-old Willow Lafayette wakes up restrained to a bed in a room she doesn’t recognize, she has no memory of how she got there, who brought her there, or how long she’s been imprisoned. Held captive by an older woman calling herself Granny who force-feeds her, Willow recalls her former life: her almost-boyfriend August, her singing channel on YouTube, the bunyavirus pandemic that was quickly spreading throughout the country, and the work her father, an internationally recognized epidemiologist, had done to treat the virus. When Granny dies suddenly in front of her, Willow is planning how to escape when a mysterious boy named Elijah appears and frees her. Elijah tells Willow that the world is ending, an experimental drug has turned people into deadly monsters who are roaming the country—and her father may be at fault. Willow must grapple with these revelations and figure out how to survive and whom to trust. The sheer number of plot twists ultimately ends up teetering on the verge of frustrating rather than surprising. However, this is a timely, chilling story that explores fear and consequences. Main characters are cued White.
An unsettling thriller that will leave readers questioning what’s real. (Thriller. 14-18)
