The Trap

October 1, 2013
Gene escapes from certain death at bloodsucker hands--and from drowning and starvation on the river, freezing in the mountains, wickedness in the creepy murder village, a deadly plummet on a death train--until finally he's right back in vampire central. After their death-defying escape from the Mission in The Prey (2013), Gene, Sissy and the other humans (or hepers) find their escape vehicle takes them not to the promised land of safety, but to a cavern full of starving hepers beneath the Palace: the Ruler's larder. Double agents promise to rescue Gene and Sissy, but the cost--the sacrifice of all the other humans in the cavern--is too high. Gene and Sis together make up the Origin; their blood combines to fuel weapons that can de-fang the vamps back into hepers. They're the only source of the weaponized blood (for no good reason), so when their next frying-pan-to-fire maneuver sends them straight back to the metropolis filled with millions of starving man-eaters, the salvation of humanity is at risk. As if gore-drenched certain death weren't enough cause for despair, Gene suspects his vanished father didn't love him enough, and he has to choose between two different girls, one of whom is a vampire, which should make it easy. At least there's a lot going on. (Science fiction. 14-16)

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October 15, 2013
Grades 9-12 Gene and Sissy's story becomes downright disturbing in this finale to what has been an unpredictable trilogy. With the knowledge that they hold the key to reversing the dusker condition, Gene and Sissy find themselves back in the Palace, making an uneasy bargain with the Ruler, who is desperate to keep some secrets of his own. A dramatic confrontation with Ashley June, Gene's first love, who was left behind when they escaped The Dome and who subsequently turned into a dusker herself, sets up a reveal that turns the entire series on its head. It has been difficult to pin this series down to a specific genre because the plot twists keep changing the landscape from paranormal to dystopian to horror. The duskers are driven by a desire to eat the humans, which is as unfathomable as their methods are cruel, and each moment that Gene and Sissy can outlast them is a breathtaking victory. The Hunt trilogy has lived up to the promise of the first book and delivered shocks and drama with every turn of the page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)