Starred Review It's a scenario that every kid has dreamed about: adults suddenly disappear, and kids have free reign. In this case, though, it's everyone 14 and older who disappears, and the harsh reality of such unreal circumstances isn't a joyride after all. A girl driving with her grandfather plunges into a horrific car wreck; gas burners left on ignite a home with a young child trapped inside; food and medical supplies dwindle; and malicious youths take over as the remaining children attempt to set up some form of workable society. Even stranger than the disappearance of much of humanity, though, are the bizarre, sometimes terrifying powers that some of the kids are developing, not to mention the rapidly mutating animals or the impenetrable wall 20 miles in diameter that encircles them. This intense, marvelously plotted, paced, and characterized story will immediately garner comparisons to Lord of the Flies, or even the long-playing world shifts of Stephen King, with just a dash of X-Men for good measure. A potent mix of action and thoughtfulness ntered around good and evil, courage and cowardice nders this a tour-de-force that will leave readers dazed, disturbed, and utterly breathless. Grant's novel is presumably the first in a series, and while many will want to scream when they find out the end is not the end, they'll be glad there's more in store.

McMann continues her conversational-style narration, but her usual quick pacing turns slower as she wraps up the trilogy that began with Wake (2008) and Fade (2009). Instead of solving crimes using her dream-catching abilities, Janie is spending the summer before college trying to resolve her own dilemma. She learns that the father she never knew has been living in an isolated house not far from her and now lies in a hospital bed. By entering his unconscious, she also learns that he is a dream catcher too, while a search through his home reveals that he has avoided the debilitating blindness and gnarled hands of Janie's dream-catching mentor, Miss Stubin, but has sacrificed love in the process. He begs her to consider Morton's Fork—a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives—before shutting herself off from her boyfriend, Cabel, and the rest of the world. Fans will gain a real appreciation of Janie's quandary and rally behind the control she musters in her seemingly helpless situation. A fitting completion to this popular series. (Paranormal. YA)

Gr 9 Up-Janie Hannagan is inadvertently and unwillingly drawn into other people's dreams and nightmares. In Fade (S & S, 2009), she uses her unique abilities to apprehend criminals. In contrast, Gone is a more personal story about Janie's attempts to come to terms with her troubled family and with the ways that dream catching will affect the rest of her life. Faced with an alcoholic and irresponsible mother, the teen finds some solace in her relationship with her boyfriend but then, unexpectedly, the father she's never known enters her life. Henry Feingold is suffering from a mysterious brain disorder. When Janie is drawn into his unconscious and continuous nightmare, she discovers that he, too, is a dream catcher, and she struggles to use her power to help him find release. As she finds out more about him, Janie faces a choiceuse her abilities for the benefit of others and become blind and crippled in her '20s like her mentor, or isolate herself from other human beings, as her father did, to avoid entering their dreams. This is a fast-paced read, written in flashbacks and sentence fragments that suggest the dream state. Janie is a strong, appealing character, and the depictions of her emotional turmoil and her painful dilemma are absolutely believable. This book would make an interesting choice for a book-discussion group. However, it is necessary to have read Wake and Fade to understand everything that is occurring. Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ