Review: Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Two teens, one broken and homeless, one from the upper crust, come to the attention of an evil corporation involved in human testing. Luckily, our intrepid youngsters are master hackers, and so they go on the run and eventually join forces. Unfortunately, the Evil Corporation has a lot more resources to work with, and keeps tracking them down. The Evil Corporation (tm) won't let a little thing like morality get in the way, and it'll Stop at Nothing to get what it wants.

So it goes.

The story clips along at a pretty fast pace, which kept me on the edge of my seat for a while. There are some interesting character moments, and the split narrative works well to give us a fuller perspective on the two protagonists, as well. Peter, in particular, feels very fleshed out, which is nice. The Evil Corporation (tm) is perhaps a little too cliché, but it's not unforgivable.

So, three stars? Well...
early in the book, there are several vague indications that Noa's kidnapping and surgery have endowed her with special abilities. It's never explicitly stated, but she heals very fast, she's rarely hungry, thirsty all the time, and she seems to be extraordinarily strong and fast for someone who was lying on a lab table for several weeks undergoing invasive surgery. But, by the end of the book, her strange athletic prowess seems to be completely ignored and forgotten, and the explanation for the testing is about something completely different. Why? How was she able to outrun highly trained guards, repeatedly? How was she able to overpower one of them? Why bother repeatedly mentioning how much better shape she seems to be in than the people around her (especially when it's clear that she ought to be in much worse shape than them)? Maybe this comes back up later in the series, but it was strange to have so many references to how hard it was for Peter to keep up with her, or about how she was, in her bare feet, outrunning the guards, etc, only to have it apparently forgotten by the end.

Also, honestly, the romance near the end? Ugh. Can't we just have one book where the opposite sex leads just have a platonic relationship? They don't know each other, they barely trust each other, they're from opposite worlds, and they're on the run from people who have shown a willingness to kill children without hesitation. Maybe that's not the ideal time for them to start eyeballing each other.



Still, those complaints aside, it's a solid enough action/thriller that I'll probably check out book two to see where it leads.




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