Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Edgewood Audio
Fiction
For ages 12 and up
Unabridged audiobook (Digital)
Performed/read by: Maxwell Glick
Audible, 2015
For months now Russ has suffered from insomnia every night. For a while he went to see a doctor who taught Russ strategies that were supposed to help with his insomnia, but none of them did. Frustrated by the time he was wasting in the doctor’s office, Russ told the doctor and his parents that he was sleeping normally again. Now, every night after his parents have gone to sleep, Russ goes out and walks the streets for a while and then he is able to come home and go to sleep himself. It is a not a perfect solution, but it works.
One night he is out walking his usual route when he sees lights falling out of the sky. Russ goes to the place where the lights came to ground and sees a beautiful spiral of lights. The material that fell from the sky is bright and glowing, but it is not hot and Russ, captivated by what he is seeing, walks into the center of the spiral and stands there. He does not feel afraid of what he is seeing and experiencing. Instead, he feels euphoric.
The next day Russ’s science teacher asks the kids if any of them saw the astrological event the night before and no one says anything. Russ is about to speak up when one of his classmates, Mallory, faints and the moment to speak up is gone as everyone rushes to help her. That night, as per usual, Russ goes for a walk after his parents are asleep. This time though he sees that an old lady that he has often seen during his nightly walks is lying on the floor in her house. Not knowing what else to do, Russ enters the house and he feels for a pulse. There is no pulse at first but then the old lady speaks to him. Russ calls for help and then runs away when the paramedics arrive on the scene.
The next day Mallory tells Russ that she saw him the night before and she knows that he was at the old lady’s house. She asks him what happened, but Russ does not want to tell anyone anything. However, Mallory is not the kind of girl to give up, and later that day she calls Russ and tells him that she knows about “the lights in the field” and invites him to join her secret group. She won’t tell him anything about the group until he meets with its members. Russ thinks Mallory is more than a little strange, but in spite of himself he meets her at the appointed place at midnight, where he is introduced to the two other members of the group: Nadia and Jameson. The four teens then go to a diner and Mallory finally tells Russ what is going on.
A year ago she, Jameson and Nadia saw lights in the sky, lights just like the ones Russ saw. Soon after, they developed abilities, powers that enable them to do extraordinary things. Jameson can move things with his mind, Mallory can control the minds of others, and Nadia can read people. Somehow coming into contact with the material that creates the lights changes people and Mallory believes that Russ can bring the dead back to life, just as he did with the only lady. She warns him not to tell anyone about what has happened because there are people out there who are “hunting” for people like them.
On his way home from the meeting Russ decides to check out the field where he saw the lights, and he finds out that the whole area has been taped off and men wearing white jumpsuits are searching the ground with hand-held devices. Though he tries to stay hidden, Russ is seen and several of the men pursue him. Russ runs as fast as he can and even when the men threaten to shoot him if he does not stop; he keeps on going. He feels something on the back of his neck at one point, but he does not stop and he manages to give the men the slip.
When Russ gets home he finds out that his shirt is soaked in blood and when he checks the back of his neck he sees that there is a hole there. He presses his hand to the wound and then, to his amazement, he feels his body push something to the surface of his skin. It is a bullet. One of the men shot him! Mallory was right. Russ has the power to heal people, and now someone is hunting him. Somehow he has stumbled into something that is a lot bigger than he is, and he really wishes that he hadn’t. The problem is that there is no going back now. He has a special ability and there are people out there who want to catch him.
This is the kind of audio book that listeners will have a hard time setting aside once they start listening to it. The author paces the story perfectly, revealing new information gradually so that listeners are kept guessing and wondering.
