Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around is a title that implies you won't be able to put this book down. I'm not sure it completely lives up to its hopes, but it's a solid, three-star young adult read with a steady plot that doesn't rely on romance to move forward.

Peter is a rich kid who hacks into secret files and subsequently gets a houseful of thugs making threats. Noa is on the opposite end of life. She's a foster kid, living carefully on her own, a member of Peter's internet hackers' group, when she wakes one day to find herself strapped to a lab table. Though they don't know each other by face or real name, they will have to trust each other to figure out what dark secrets they have unwittingly unearthed before their pursuers catch up with them.

This book is good enough for the first in a series, but author Michelle Gagnon will have to pick up the pace in following books. The danger is real enough. People die, after all. But the secrets behind everything need to be bigger. Stakes have to be higher. I confess, I wanted something a little bit more science-fictioney than what I got. Maybe I read too much paranormal now, but the answers just aren't quite crazy enough, weird enough, awe-inspiring enough. The end of the book opens a new set of problems, but is it enough to hook the readers? Only the sequel knows. This book is available this month.