Hang onto your socks! Evans' new teen book is a high-voltage ride that cranks up early and surges to a wild finish, setting up sequels to come. Fourteen-year-old Michael Vey tries to stay under the radar, but his small stature and Tourette's syndrome make him a target of bullies, and he has serious reasons to keep from losing his temper. Michael has dangerous powers. He can produce electrical shocks, and this power is getting stronger all the time. Only Michael's mother and his best friend, Ostin, know the truth, until Michael discovers that a lovely classmate, Taylor, also has strange electrically based powers. Forming the Electroclan, the two supernatural teens begin to investigate their pasts and discover a strange connection, but their research brings them to the attention of powerful men set on world domination. The highly charged plot generates a crackling pace, and the main characters are likable and compelling. It is best not to examine the world-building too closely, and the dialogue, especially in the final battle scenes, is melodramatic. Still, many readers will overlook these points as they are caught in the flow of this sizzling story.

Michael and Taylor discover they have inexplicable powers of electricity. They enlist the help of their hyperintelligent friend Ostin to investigate their origins. But when Michael's mother and Taylor are kidnapped, Michael and Ostin must travel to California to confront the ominous organization that's seemingly behind everything. The story line is standard for the genre, but well-developed characters elevate it.

Evans (The Christmas Box) enters the YA market with this fast-paced, if predictable tale of a teenager with superpowers and the conspiracy that created him. Years ago, a medical equipment accident killed dozens of newborns and left 17of them with assorted "electrical powers." In present-day Idaho, 14-year-old misfit Michael Vey, who can create electricity and has Tourette's syndrome, is one of the last two living outside of Pasadena. Coincidentally, the other "electric child" is Michael's crush, cute cheerleader, Taylor who is able to mentally "reset" people's brains. When a mysterious organization called Elgen kidnaps Taylor as well as Michael's mother, Michael, his best friend Ostin, and a pair of school bullies venture on a cross-country trip to rescue them. Taylor, meanwhile, learns that Elgen is just as dastardly an organization as she'd feared. Evans delivers a pair of believable lead characters-Taylor has wits and personal integrity, while Michael's Tourette's syndrome, coupled with an emotional jolt from his past, adds dimension-but generic dialogue and lackluster villains result in a by-the-numbers thriller. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)