No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz (Book One TBA Trilogy)

(Review based on Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of the book.)

Hundreds of people go to the mall everyday, but for 4 teens, a trip to the mall could be deadly. Marco, Lexi, Shay and Ryan have come to the mall for reasons all their own. Marco works as a busboy at a mall restaurant. After being chased by school bullies in the parking garage, he discovers a device attached to the AC unit for the mall. Lexi is out with her parents for some family time, which rarely happens because her mother is a state senator. Shay just wanted to escape the house her family has just moved into, but she had to come with her grandmother and sister. Ryan is running an errand for his older brother, a QB for the local football team, of which he is a member too.

Told from alternating points of view from these four teens, we start to get a picture of what each of them is like and how they handle the situation at hand as their world descends into chaos. We also start to get a feel for each of their personalities, which I hope the author will delve into more in the remaining two books in the trilogy.

The tagline for this trilogy in “Contagion meets Lord of the Flies in a mall that looks just like yours.” I haven’t read LOTF, yet, however I know the story. I thought Contagion was a huge bore. My favorite disease on the loose move is Outbreak. Dustin Hoffman rocks! Sorry, getting off topic a bit.

Lorentz really captures the tension and how young adults think in a situation like this. What I love about this story is each of her characters is unique and come from different multi-cultural backgrounds. This element is very hard to find in well-written young adult literature. The pacing of the story is right on target as the tension and fear ratchets higher and higher. I can’t wait for Book Two. This book will be released on May 29th.

Ages 13+ (mature content, language)

Publisher: Dial (May 2012)

ISBN: 9780803738737

Available as an eBook

Image from www.goodreads.com

FTC Full Disclosure: I received my review copy from the publisher.