Nemesis

December 19, 2016
Reichs (coauthor of the Virals series) incorporates enough life-threatening, apocalyptic elements into this fast-moving tale for half a dozen ordinary thrillers: an extinction-event-size asteroid, comets crashing to Earth, mysterious tsunamis and earthquakes, secret medical experiments, libertarian survivalists, and more. Sixteen-year-old Min Wilder, meanwhile, has problems of another sort: on her birthday, a stranger, who may be related to the aforementioned apocalyptic events, murdered her, only for her to wake up, apparently unharmed, in a forest near the Idaho trailer park where she lives. This has now happened five times: five deaths and five resurrections. With worldwide destruction imminent, a military unit has sealed off Min’s town, and she learns that her classmate Noah (who trades narration duties with Min) is experiencing the same kind of recurring violence. Min is a tough hero, and her close friend Tack is compulsively funny, though other characters hew more to stereotypes. Reichs pulls everything together at the book’s end, and a plot twist few will see coming should leave readers eagerly awaiting the second book in this duology. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House.