REVIEW: Don't Look Now (PERSEFoNE #2) by Michelle Gagnon

Title: Don't Look Now

Series:PERSEFoNE #2
Author: Michelle Gagnon

Publisher: Harpercollins

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Pages: 336, Hardcover
Source: Library, Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads:

Noa Torsen is on the run. Having outsmarted the sinister corporation Pike & Dolan, Noa and her friend Zeke now move stealthily across the country, protecting runaways before they become test subjects for P&D's horrific experiments. Noa knows all too well what that feels like: Whatever they did to her has left her exhausted and scared.

Back in Boston, Peter anxiously follows Noa's movements from his computer, using his hacker skills to feed her the information she needs to stay alive. But he's desperate to do something more, especially when he learns what P&D has done to his ex-girlfriend Amanda.

Then, in an explosive confrontation, Noa and her team are trapped in the one place they thought was safe. It will take everything Noa and Peter have to bring down the corporation before it gets them first. And with no one to trust and enemies hiding at every turn, they may be the only people alive who can.

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• Don't Look Now was just as fast-paced and exciting as Don't Turn Around. You still have your evil corporation performing gruesome experiments on kids. Noa and Zeke have managed to save a few of them, and are now raiding other facilities to rescue more. Meanwhile, Peter is trying to bring down Mason and Amanda is suffering from the aftermath of her abduction. Lots of stuff is going on.


• The multiple POVs offer constant action as each MC is in the thick of things in one way or another. In addition to Noa and Peter's POVs, Gagnon adds the perspectives of Amanda and Teo, a new recruit. It was great to get to know Amanda better and hear her story, especially considering what is happening to her. 


• I still really like Noa. She is strong and focused and smart.I like that she trusts her gut feeling, which is usually right. I know she doesn't have the luxury of acting like a normal kid but it would be nice to see some more of her personality outside all of the stress. I think it would make her an even stronger character.


• I thought the ending was pretty exciting, although a little dragged out.

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• Unfortunately this book has a mild case of middle book syndrome. It was a page-turner but in terms of furthering the plot, I don't feel like the story is in a significantly different place than it was at the end of book 1.

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Michelle Gagnon's PERSEFoNE series is a perfect fix for action lovers. It's intriguing and suspenseful and a total page-turner. The second book might not have added to the story as much as I would have liked, but I still had a lot of fun reading it and am looking forward to the next book.

REVIEW #88: Don't Turn Around (Persefone #1) by Michelle Gagnon

Title: Don't Turn Around

Series: Persefone #1
Author: Michelle Gagnon

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: August, 28, 2012

Pages: 320, Hardcover

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her computer-hacking skills to stay safely anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in an empty warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

 

"If you've found this, then you’re already one of us. This won’t be an easy thread to follow. Because of the people we're up against, you’ll have to work for it. We’ll always leave bread crumbs, but they might get swept away, or be too hard to track. But we're trusting that even if you only find this entry, you’ll pass it along. Because the one thing we have going for us is numbers. There are more of us. And if we work together, we can stop them. 

I don’t like talking about myself, but I don’t have a choice anymore. I was taken by them. Experimented on. And I’m not the only one. They're preying on everyone outside the system, the kids no one cares about. 

Well, I care. And I am going to fight them. We're building an army, both here and in the real world. We're going to beat them at their own game. Even if you think you’re safe, even if you’re one of those people with parents and a social security number and a warm place to sleep, you need to listen. Today, they're coming for us. Tomorrow, it might be you. So I’m asking for your help. I’m asking you to open your eyes, your ears. See what’s happening in every major city across the country. Kids are vanishing. Kids are dying. And the cops and the government are part of it. 

Follow me and we can save them. We’ll lead them back into the light. 

My name used to be Noa. But you can call me PER5EF0NE"

So I am hoping that quote will convince you how awesome this book is and make my job a little easier. I really found Don’t Turn Around to be an exciting , heart-racing action-adventure that didn’t disappoint. It doesn’t hurt that I have a fascination with hacking and wish I had that talent (can I admit that on the internet?). 

Noa wakes up on a cold bed in what looks like a makeshift hospital. There are guards on her, a big scar running down the center of her chest and she can’t remember the last few weeks of her life. She’ll soon learn that she was involuntarily experimented on by a corrupt underground organization looking to find a cure for PEMA. Let’s just say she’s not happy and is going to figure out what happened the only way she knows how - through shear computing force. 

Peter is a hacker on a mission - righting wrongs in the world where he can. But he doesn’t realize the importance of the site he’s stumbled upon until minutes later his door is broken down and very dangerous looking guys threaten him to mind his own business and leave with his computer. More pissed off  than scared, Peter calls on his merry band of hackers and starts digging for answers. But he doesn’t realize the magnanimity of what he’s discovered until it’s too late to back out. 

Fate or chance (who cares) brings Noa and Peter together and after realizing that they are both running from, and simultaneously investigating, the same bag guy, they decide to stick together. Soon they discover what was done to Noa and what else is being done to hundreds of other kids across the country, without anyone knowing or caring. Horrified and enraged, they make it their mission to stop it. 

This book has all the good elements of your run-of-the-mill action-thriller where someone escapes or someone discovers a corrupt organization and then vows to bring it down if the bad guys don’t silence them first. There is plenty of ambush and escape, large threats and subtle warnings, keeping a steady feel of danger and anticipation throughout the story. Better yet, there is some interesting science sprinkled in, an alliance of hackers who can accomplish some mighty awesome take-downs, and some pretty badass characters.

Years of taking care of herself has hardened Noa into a fierce and capable young woman but still likeable  in all her vulnerability and innocence. Peter has lived a life of luxury but has it far from perfect with parents who wish he had been the one to die instead of his brother. Both characters are strong but flawed and a little broken and, unknowingly at first, give each other strength and comfort. 

It you are looking for a good adventure that starts strong and never waivers, this is your book. Don’t Turn Around had my full attention and was full of suspense and intrigue from the very first words until the last page.

BLOG TOUR {Review #66 & Giveaway}: Strangelets by Michelle Gagnon

Title: Strangelets
Author: Michelle Gagnon
Publisher: Soho Teen
Release Date: April 9th 2013
Source: EBook from the Publisher for an honest Review

Summary from Goodreads:
17-year-old Sophie lies on her deathbed in California, awaiting the inevitable loss of her battle with cancer…
17-year-old Declan stares down two armed thugs in a back alley in Galway, Ireland…
17-year-old Anat attempts to traverse a booby-trapped tunnel between Israel and Egypt…

All three strangers should have died at the exact same moment, thousands of miles apart. Instead, they awaken together in an abandoned hospital—only to discover that they’re not alone. Three other teens from different places on the globe are trapped with them. Somebody or something seems to be pulling the strings. With their individual clocks ticking, they must band together if they’re to have any hope of surviving.

Soon they discover that they've been trapped in a future that isn't of their making: a deadly, desolate world at once entirely familiar and utterly strange. Each teen harbors a secret, but only one holds the key that could get them home. As the truth comes to light through the eyes of Sophie, Declan, and Anat, the reader is taken on a dark and unforgettable journey into the hearts of teens who must decide what to do with a second chance at life.

"There's a process called spaghettification, where the gravity at your feet is much greater than at your head.  So theoretically, if you were drawn into a mini black hole, you'd be stretched as if on a rack, until you finally splintered into atoms."

This book is quite tricky to summarize without giving away too much of the story line. But the rough summary, SPOILER FREE: A group of teenagers, all near death wake up in a deserted hospital with no idea of why they are there, how they got there, and where there actually is. When the group manages to leave the hospital they are faced with a new world, a world that seems desolated; they can’t seem to find other people but they are able to run into unknown creatures who want to eat them. Sofia, Yosh, Declan, Niko, and Anat must figure out how to survive this new environment and how to get back to a world they know.

I had two big issues with the book. The first was that the beginning was slow and confusing with no indication of where the story was going to go. The second was the narration, the narration switches from character to character but without any clear indication, forcing me to reread paragraphs sometimes because they change was so subtle. My final small “issue” was the science involved in the story was super science-fictiony. Some of the science presented seemed to be a bit far reaching and sometimes corny/goofy.

‘Strangelets are a kind of matter containing an almost equal number of particles: up, down, and strange quarks. Although it’s a good term for you, now’ he added with a small laugh shaking his head. ‘A bunch of strangelets.’

There was plot twist I was not expecting AT ALL. I found the plot twists refreshing and thought they helped keep the mystery up. The beginning was slow but once the characters started understanding a bit about the world they landed in, the adventure and intrigue increased.  I enjoyed the individuality of each character and how they paired off with each other. Declan had to be my favorite character, he was full of witty and sarcastic comments that kept me smiling.  While there is an underlying love story, it is well done and cute :) The ending provided a nice conclusion with all the loose ends either acknowledged or resolved. There is a nice blend of happy and sad that make the story more realistic.

Overall, I was torn how many stars to give this book because it was such roller coaster of a read. After a slow and confusing beginning the story picks up and is full if mystery, sci-fi and adventure. The plot kept me guessing the whole time, Strangelets was far from predictable!

About the Author:
Michelle Gagnon is a former modern dancer, bartender, dog walker, model, personal trainer, and
Russian supper club performer. Her bestselling adult thrillers THE TUNNELS, BONEYARD, THE GATEKEEPER, and KIDNAP & RANSOM have been published in North America, France, Denmark, Spain, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Australia. BONEYARD was a finalist for a 2009 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense.

http://www.michellegagnon.com/  | twitter.com/Michelle_Gagnon

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