Gone by Michael Grant

One day, suddenly, in the middle of the day in the small town of Perdido Beach, everyone fifteen and above disappears. They are just gone. All of the children must fend for themselves. Some fall quickly into leadership roles, or criminal roles; one starts looking after the infants and babies, another desperately tries to help the sick and injured. Sam finds himself trying to help Astrid find her younger, Autistic brother, Pete. As if this is not enough, some of the survivors have unexplained powers. Then, a group of students from the imposing Coates College, a private school up the hill where ‘trouble’ children are sent, roll into town and take over. It becomes a battle of good versus evil.

I do love Young Adult novels. I love that they are fast paced and quick to read, and can be very, very full on. The Hunger Games Trilogy was extremely graphic in its violence, and so is this. Grant has not been afraid to have children as evil characters, but the actions of his characters are all very believable in this situation. It is inconceivable that such a situation could actually take place, but I spent time wondering where I would fit in to this scenario. Would I be fighting or looking after children? (Actually, I don’t need to think about that too hard. I’d be with the babies)

Gone is the first part of a series, and I am very much looking forward to the second book, Hunger.