BookTale: Gone by Michael Grant

YouTube link for audio and pics: https://youtu.be/ZlkaWtPrqWs

How many books can you remember the first time you sat down to read them even 20 years later? And no, it wasn't Dr. Seuss. I'm old, folks.

Welcome to BookTales, where I review books for the Chaos Library.

I was walking through Borders in 2008, on my way to watch a movie, I have no idea which one, and saw a book on a display table. The book's name was Gone by Michael Grant and it looked interesting. I remember sitting down on the plastic bench outside of the theater, waiting for them to clean it, and cracking open the book. By the time they opened the doors to let us in, I no longer cared about the movie. I didn't want to stop reading. I went home as soon as it was over and finished the book that evening. Then I realized the story wasn't over and the other books weren't out yet. I might have howled just a bit.

For the next several years, I bought every one of the books, until I had them all, refusing to read them until I had the complete series, but buying copies just to do my small part to encourage Mr. Grant to keep writing. Once I finally had them all, I read them as fast as I could.

If you've not heard of this series, it's about a California town enclosed in a mysterious dome after everyone over the age of 18 disappears.

This book (and the series) work on so many levels. The mystery is compelling and the concept is fascinating, but it's the characters that kept me reading. I so desperately wanted the bad guys to make better choices, and the author really seemed to give them the option so when they chose badly, it felt even more tragic. At the same time, the "good guys" seemed even more heroic because they really struggled to make the right choices.

The story is brutal and doesn't pull any punches. The consequences are as inescapable as the town and so many of the individual stories within the overall plot are just heartbreaking.

I hope you've read it, but if you haven't, you get the chance to experience it all for the first time. I'm a little jealous.

5 Pass-The-Popcorn-And-Shush Stars

You've reached the Tale end. Look forward to another BookTale soon. And don't forget to visit the Chaos Library