Gone

by: Lisa McMann
Grade: B+

This is the third book in McMann's trilogy (Wake, Fade) about teenager Janie, a young woman who has been able to read dreams all her life. In fact, it goes just a little bit deeper than that -- Janie is sucked into the dreams of anyone around her who is sleeping, whether she wants to be or not. The only thing that protects her is being separated from the sleeper by wood or a closed door of some kind.

Janie is on her first real vacation in years. Things are really looking up for her; she has graduated from high school and is spending her summer with Cabel, the boy she's in love with. But she's panicking about how she's going to survive her future when getting sucked into other people's dreams is already starting to take a physical toll. Not just that, it is a danger at every moment of her day -- like when she is water skiing and falls off, hitting her head and nearly drowning because she passes someone sleeping and is pulled into their dreams -- and out of her reality.

As if her future worries weren't enough, a call from her best friend alerts her to some BIG present concerns. Her mother is at the hospital. Racing home to deal with her nightmare parent she finds out that there is more to the issue. As Janie comes to terms with meeting someone new and important she also learns about options for her future. But are those options a solution -- or just a different form of torture?

This book really intrigued me with its possibilities. Enough so that I was surprised to learn that it is the end of the trilogy, rather than just another episode in a longer saga. Given that information I was disappointed by one aspect: why does simply everyone fear research? In Janie's shoes I would want to be tested. I would want someone working on HELPING ME, I don't think I would go quietly into the night the way she is. This is an ongoing theme recently in paranormal novels. Got a problem? For goodness sake, don't go to the authorities! When a problem is as severe as Janie's is I think I would give going to medical researchers a real good try --or two or three.

The book is well written, though, and a good sequel to Wake and Fade. If you like the others, definitely go for it.

Tea: Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time tea. Sweet dreams!