The Hunted

February 1, 2015
After surviving the tsunami that sank their cruise ship, escaping an island harboring a deadly secret and enduring 36 days at sea, three teens and an adult reach what's left of California-a quarantined, anarchic region devastated by earthquakes and a lethal, engineered pandemic.Gangs control spheres of influence and prohibit travel. The dead are everywhere. Teens Shy, Carmen and Marcus suspect their families also perished. Shoeshine, the man who engineered their escape and their only guide, is a mystery himself. Inoculated against Romero Disease, the teens want to hunt for their families, but circumstances lead them to accompany Shoeshine east to Arizona, where the precious vaccine can be produced and disseminated to millions at risk. Shy and Carmen's mutual attraction grows, but she's engaged to someone among the missing. (Awkward sexuality in books for teens generally expresses a female perspective; Shy's touching, funny account makes a welcome change.) Frustratingly, there's no throughline to the plot; it doesn't so much unwind as fall apart. Horrific discoveries (babies shot in a hospital, children killing and killed) lack the weight they merit; coincidence strains credulity. Latino protagonists are all too rare in teen books, but Shy and his cohort here feel more like placeholders than developed characters. Quests and goals are abandoned without resolution as if the author, having lost interest in his story midway, has left characters-and readers-to finish it themselves. A disappointing sequel to the standout The Living (2013). (Science fiction. 14-18)

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February 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Previously, in The Living (Delacorte, 2013), Shy Espinoza's cushy summer job aboard a cruise ship was short-lived. A tsunami sunk the luxury liner, and Shy survived harrowing moments at sea, after learning that some of the passengers were working for Laso Tech, an evil biotech company responsible for Romero's Disease, a deadly contagion ravaging Southern California. In this episode, Shy and three friends survive in a dinghy for a month with some stolen vials of the precious Romero's vaccine, only to wash ashore and see the California coast devastated. Leveled by earthquakes, Los Angeles is an apocalyptic wasteland of rotting corpses and fearful survivors unable to contain Romero's epidemic. Vigilantes patrol the streets looking for the ill to kill, and the healthy have few places to isolate themselves. Shy's friends Marcus, Carmen, and Shoeshine hope to make their way to Arizona where scientists can duplicate the vaccine samples and save the masses. It is a race against time as they dodge Laso Tech's henchmen and desperate citizens willing to kill to survive-occasionally helped by a mysterious stranger on a motorcycle. Readers will be drawn to the raw and gritty setting, fast-moving plot, and diverse characters worth rooting for, such as Carmen, Shy's feisty Mexican coworker and romantic interest, and the philosophical Shoeshine, an older black man who sees Shy as more than just a resilient and steadfast kid, but a larger-than-life hero. VERDICT A more focused and linear sequel for fans of YA survival novels.-Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 More than a month after they set sail in a busted dinghy at the end of The Living (2013), Shy, Marcus, Carmen, and Shoeshine finally arrive at the California coast, only to discover incredible devastation wrought both by the earthquake and fever-pitch panic over Romero disease. Condemned buildings hold stacks of untouched rotting bodies, safety is prohibitively expensive, and roving gangs patrol the streets with the directive to shoot anyone trying to travel, which is bad news for Shy and his friends, who are determined to make it to Arizona with the remaining vaccines. De la Pena keeps up the frantic pace he set in The Living as the foursome treks through ruined towns and tries to outrun the mysterious SUVs on their tail. And all the while, in an effortlessly slang-inflected tone, Shy weighs his responsibilities, worries about whether he is brave enough, and considers what makes a hero. With a careful balance between fast-paced plot and meaningful, diverse character development, this is a great crossover for fans of both thrillers and more character-driven novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)