Don't Look Now

Gr 8 Up—Having escaped the clutches of Project Persephone at the conclusion of Don't Turn Around (HarperCollins, 2012), teen hacker Noa finds herself on the run. Along with fellow runaway Zeke, she takes down Persephone labs across the country and rescues as many kids as possible from experimentation and death. Back home in Boston, Peter runs the information side of things, providing data, blueprints, and technical support for their raids, all while dealing with some harsh difficulties of his own. They save a few kids at a time, but they are still just a small group of untrained teenagers against a ruthless corporate army that will stop at nothing to recapture Noa and finish her pathetic resistance. This second book in a trilogy introduces new characters and new threats to Noa and Peter and leads them headlong into a conclusion that should be eagerly anticipated. Don't Look Now is not as tech-heavy as the first book, mostly because Gagnon has taken those duties away from Noa and turned her more into a Katniss-type leader and symbol, leaving Peter to do the heavy lifting in the computer department. The action is a little more balanced this time around, spread throughout the book, and there are some serious issues along the way for all involved. Gagnon handles these developments and revelations well and they hit readers with the same force as they hit the characters. A few savvy teens will find the twists and turns to be fairly obvious, but they by no means detract from the fun of getting there.—Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX