Seventeen-year-old Charley is crossing the Target parking lot in her Georgia hometown when she blacks out, waking to find herself naked in a lava field. She has been sucked into the alternate universe of Nil, an island paradise populated solely by teenagers who've been pulled into Nil's inbound gates. Nil residents have exactly one year to find and catch an outbound gate, which appear daily at noon somewhere on the island, transporting one person back to earth. The teens have formed a community that works together to keep themselves fed, clothed, and healthy while helping find gates for those whose time is fast running out. Incredibly handsome Thad currently leads the group, and he and gorgeous Charley fall in love. What elevates this survival romance is Charley's strong, smart character e is the one who maps gate patterns, cracking the code to predict where gates will turn up d the close community the teens create. One could quibble that Nil seems to grab primarily English speakers, and find fault with the predictability of the various romances, but most readers will be too busy devouring the book in one sitting.

Charley mysteriously wakes up on the island of Nil, which might be a paradise if not for the wild animals and the fact that everyone has exactly 365 days to escape. And that clock is running out for her lover, Thad. Improbably fit, beautiful teenagers create a believably imperfect society to support one another as their race to save themselves generates page-turning tension.

Matson makes a strong debut with this tense, cinematic struggle for survival on a peril-filled island that may have some readers flashing back to episodes of Lost. A mysterious portal transports 17-year-old Charley to the possibly sentient and certainly capricious island of Nil, where she encounters a community of teens who have also been stolen from the lives they once knew. While circumstances remain clouded in uncertainty, Charley quickly learns the chief rule: she has one year to find and catch a portal home (these "gates" appear and vanish at will), or she will die. When Charley falls for handsome Thad, whose own deadline swiftly approaches, she must choose between love and survival, with no guarantee either will last. Matson's eye for detail and skillful characterizations fuel a fast-paced story that blends beauty, horror, romance, and adventure. A memorable cast of attractive and resourceful teens, along with the lush and deadly island, offer an effective hook, while the story's psychological intrigue, cleverly subverted expectations, and slow unveiling of information contribute genuine drama. Ages 14-up. Agent: Jennifer Unter, the Unter Agency. (Mar.)

Gr 9 Up-When you wake up on the Island of Nil, the rules are simple: you have exactly one year to get off, or you die. That is the predicament that 17-year-old Charley finds herself in when she awakens, naked and alone, plucked from the parking lot of the local Target by a random Nil gate. Eventually, she meets a group of fellow refugees and discovers that teens have been sent here for dozens, possibly, hundreds, of years. When she meets Thad, one of the leaders of the Nil community, she finds the boy of her dreams, and suddenly Charley is determined that she and Thad will get off the island so they can have a life together back home. But Nil is a hard place to survive; escape gates come only once a day, always precisely at noon, and they could pop up anywhere on the island. Told through the alternating viewpoints of Charley and Thad, this story adequately captures their growing love and desperate need to save each other as the clock continues to tick. The concept of Nil is very interesting and well constructed. Teenagers aren't the only creatures the gates bring to the island; there is wildlife pulled in from everywhere, so the danger from wild beasts is always a real threat. While there is conflict and tragedy, Matson seems to have a high opinion of the good nature and resourcefulness of kids left to their own devices. Overall, this book hits its mark. Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX

Seventeen-year-old Charley is engulfed by a wave of shimmering heat as she crosses the Target parking lot in Roswell, Georgia. She burns, then freezes, before all becomes dark. She wakes, naked and alone, in a red Martian-like setting. Avoiding more "shimmers," she finds a boy's abandoned shorts and bandana, traverses a changing landscape, and finally camps on the tree line of a black beach, where she meets Thad, the leader of the teens in the "City." Charley and Thad tell, in alternating chapters, how teenagers survive on the parallel world of Nil, which, underneath the faþade of an island paradise, harbors dangerous animals and the threat of death. Charley learns that each teen has 365 days to catch an outgoing "shimmer" or "gate" to escape Nil; if they fail, they die.Matson brings a unique twist to a survival story with similarities to the TV reality show Survivor. She populates her teen community with compelling characters who make choices to follow or disregard the rules that govern their survival and escape, including the imperatives of using their skills to sustain the community and working together in "search" teams to locate outgoing gates for those nearing their last chance to leave. Matson's writing is vivid, whether describing Nil's false beauty or teens' desperate attempts to catch fast-moving gates. The deep love between Charley (who maps the island and sequence of gates) and Thadand the intensity of their conflicted emotions as Thad reaches his last dayadds depth to a strongly written fantasy.Hilary Crew.