Seventeen-year-old Lily remembers the Before, a time before the Ticks netically mutated, vampirelike beings ok over and teenagers were corralled like livestock onto government-run farms for their blood. But, as in Logan's Run, there's an expiration date on the teens' usefulness, and 18 is only a few days away. Lily is planning a desperate escape with her autistic twin sister, Mel. When Carter, a boy from her past, suddenly shows up, she discovers that escaping is the easy part. Lily's no-nonsense first-person point of view contrasts sharply with Carter's more clinical third-person perspective. But it's Mel's tangled psyche that carries the heart of their struggle, as her simplistic autistic behaviors and complex interior thoughts mirror the story's surface survivor tale, which is framed by a layered philosophical core. Other characters are painted in broad sketches, leaving potential avenues for later exploration. Fast-paced, brutal, and bloody, this novel's alternating points of view keep the action moving and the suspense ratcheting up to an unbearable pitch.

Gr 8 Up-For their own protection, 17-year-old Lily and her autistic twin sister, Mel, are herded onto the Farm. A now-defunct college campus, it is a holding pen for countless teens. Hovering on the other side of the electric barbwire fence are human-size mutations: bloodthirsty Ticks, a scientific experiment gone awry. The Dean of the Farm systematically sacrifices hormonally ripe teens to feed and ward them off. Some females turn into breeders because their hormonal change repels the Ticks. Lily, fierce protector of Mel, plots their escape from this creepy place. Complicating her plan is Carter, the too-cool guy from the Before who vigilantly comes to their rescue. Mel is strangely compliant and responsive to Carter and his accomplice, a drop-dead gorgeous vampire, Sebastian. Unknown to Lily, her rescuers suspect that she has paranormal powers. Carter hopes that she can save the world, Sebastian wants to wipe out the competition, and the Dean wants to use Lily's powers for his own devices. Carter, Sebastian, and a couple who knew the twins in the Before join them on their flight to freedom, a barren backdrop of abandoned cars, empty neighborhoods, and vanished families. The group is relentlessly pursued by the psychopathic Dean, tracked by electronic chips embedded beneath their skin, and always hunted by the free-range hormone-thirsty Ticks. Gothic intrigue, an impressive female warrior, and the keen sensory perceptions and mysteries of autism all come together in this suspenseful adventure. Bloody confrontations are many, but a brewing romance in a dystopian land steals the show. Teen girls will delight in this fresh sci-fi fantasy that works the formula and throws in new surprises. Passing the vampire bite to a key player hints at a sequel. Alison Follos, formerly at North Country School, Lake Placid, NY