Unraveling [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Norris (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 24, 2012

Reminiscent of Before I Fall, Elizabeth Norris's Unraveling blends realistic coming-of-age issues and heart-stopping romance with something just a little bit more. In this case, a gripping science fiction world.

Unraveling's heroine, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner, is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. The more Janelle tries to figure him out, the more she starts to believe he's connected to a case her father is working on. The one where people are dying of radiation poisoning and the body count is rising. The one that involves a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction. If Janelle wants to stop the clock and save the world, she has twenty-four days to uncover Ben's secrets--and keep from falling in love with him.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris, comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one awesome book. In Norris' debut, she takes an oft-used premise in YA today (girl dies, then wakes up) and turns it into a rip-roaring, sci-fi adventure. The plot twists and turns at the end of almost every chapter."--Romantic Times, Top Pick!

“Leav[es] the reader wanting more and begging for a sequel to this multilayered debut.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) )

“Readers will enjoy the nonstop action and romance.” (School Library Journal )

“A satisfying puzzle full of novel twists and provocative clues.” (Publishers Weekly )

“This high-stakes thriller—complete with mind-bending sci-fi twist—will hook you and never let go.”— (Pittacus Lore, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Am Number Four )

“If Veronica Mars snatched a case from Mulder and Scully, you’d get this fast-paced page-turner. With a heroine full of moxie, wicked surprises around every corner, and non-stop action, UNRAVELING is an irresistible thriller.” (Andrea Cremer, New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade trilogy )

From the Back Cover

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Balzer + Bray (April 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062103733
• ISBN-13: 978-0062103734
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together.

Her debut series is the story of one girl's fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming. Learn more at her website: http://www.elizabethnorrisbooks.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, edge-of-your seat sci-fi adventure story March 24, 2012

By kacunnin TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Elizabeth Norris's UNRAVELING is a fantastically exciting science fiction story, sort of a mash-up of THE X-FILES and QUANTAM LEAP, but ultimately original. The narrator is high school junior Janelle Tenner, who's pretty much an ordinary teenage girl until she's hit by a pickup truck and killed. But then something amazing happens - Ben Michaels brings her back to life. Janelle has no clue how Ben did it, but she's sure it happened. Because in the seconds between the accident and the arrival of the EMT crew, her severed spine is miraculously knitted back together. She knows it's true, and she knows it's because of Ben

Things just keep getting stranger and stranger for Janelle, as her father (a big wig at the FBI) begins investigating a series of odd murders involving radiation burns, and she finds herself growing closer and closer to Ben, the boy who saved her life. It's not long before she realizes that Ben and his two friends, Alijah and Reid, are somehow connected to the cases her father has been investigating. And a mysterious count-down, which neither the FBI nor Ben can explain, suggests that the world we know might not last another three weeks.

UNRAVELING is brilliantly paced, and intensely thrilling. In structure, it suggests the TV series 24, in which Jack Bauer had twenty-four hours to solve a mystery that threatened the world. In UNRAVELING, however, Janelle has twenty-four days to figure things out, and each chapter moves us closer by hours to the moment of truth. I was captivated from the very beginning.

Janelle is a beautifully drawn character who is totally real and believable, and her romance with Ben grows slowly until the reader is swept away with their story. For once I didn't feel manipulated by a writer trying to manufacture a love story to sell a book. Janelle and Ben are a great couple, and their relationship is both uplifting and heartbreaking. I believed it all the way.

The science fiction elements of the story also work, although they do require a bit of suspension of disbelief (what sci-fi stories don't?). I won't get into any of the details, since it would be a shame to spoil even a little bit of the story, but things do make sense and you will not be disappointed as you get closer and closer to the final page.

Bottom line, read this book! For the first time in a long while I actually hope there's a sequel (I'm not a fan of the planned trilogies that are springing up all over the place -- it always feels like I'm being set up to buy the next book). But that's not how it is with UNRAVELING. It's not that it doesn't have a satisfying ending - it does, it totally does - but there's definitely more story to tell. And that's what makes a book like this really wonderful - I didn't want it to end. And I do hope Norris is working on the sequel! I totally recommend it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars And the countdown begins... April 6, 2012

By Donna

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Unraveling is a story with true emotional depth that kept me engaged with it's mystery surrounding the countdown clock, a possibly doomed love between two likable and realistic characters, and that's laced with tragedy that hits the heart and pulled at my heartstrings. I felt Unraveling was a character driven story, and it was told from the main character, Janelle's point view, as she tried to discover the reason behind the countdown clock and starts to realize that Ben Michaels is more than he leads everyone to believe.

I thought Janelle was a smart, easy-going, level headed teen who had more responsibility than the average teenager. She hasn't had the luxury of leading a carefree childhood because she has also been her younger brother's main caretaker since he was born with random spurts of help from her FBI agent dad because her mother is usually hiding from the world, sunken into a depression caused from bipolar disorder.

At the beginning, Ben seemed allusive, quiet and a little standoffish but deeper into the story, small surprising pieces of information about him are revealed, evolving his character into someone you end up feeling a emotional tie to. Ben and his friends are classic examples of "Don't judge a book by it's cover" because they are more then their surface appearances and attitudes would have you think.

While I enjoyed Unraveling immensely, there were a few plot holes for me, or maybe I should say pieces of the story that didn't make sense to have them included nor did they add to it in any way because they were put out there but never expanded upon, making me wonder why have them in the story at all.

Upon finished Unraveling, I felt the ending was fitting but one aspect of the finale left me feeling angry, very angry. There are very few books that have left me feeling that mad. I can only hope there will be a follow up book that will not only help me make sense of that one maddening point but also tie up several loose ends that need to be resolved in order for Janelle's story to feel whole.

I would recommend Unraveling to anyone who enjoys a fast paced young adult story that has it's bases firmly rooted in realistic teen dramatics with a twist of science fiction and a smart, level headed heroine that's easy to cheer on.

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Complex--or convoluted? April 28, 2012

By Kathryn Heckenbach VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I must start by saying there actually was a lot I liked about this book. The main character's "voice" started off very appealing. Janelle was likable, if a bit snarky. And there were times when I was reading that I found myself completely sucked in. That is why I gave this three stars instead of two.

However.

It felt too much like the author was going for "complex"--but what really happened was she crammed about three or four different novel ideas into one book, and it simply didn't work for me.

***mild spoiler alert***

First is the love story between Janelle and Ben. While I'm not the biggest fan of romance being the *main* plot of a story, this was likely the strongest part of the book. The "real" plot, though, fell completely flat for me. Janelle is brought back to life by Ben after she is hit by a truck, then she finds out about a case her FBI dad is working on, with some mechanism that is counting down to something, but they don't know what. And seemingly random people are dying from radiation poisoning. Janelle is determined to find out what's going on, and of course assumes the countdown is to some huge catastrophe--a bomb? something to kill everyone with radiation? The problem: She's not exactly acting like she believes the end of the world is near. She's rather focused on french-kissing Ben (whom she believes has something to do with her dad's case, and of course there is the whole he-brought-her-back-to-life-thing), snarking about her frenemies, taking care of her bipolar mother, and making sure her brother makes it to his water polo classes.

Oddly, the author herself summed up how I felt about it with Janelle's thoughts on page 236: "We might be looking at the end of the world--the end of existence--and I'm running around playing teen detective."

****a bit more spoilerish****

Janelle, your dad is an FBI agent. Why are you not at least talking to him about this after he conveniently let you see the files and told you all about the case? Why, darling, would you *need* to play teen detective??? Sigh.

Oh, yes, and casually, just here and there, Janelle is dealing with the fact that she might have been raped at a party.

See what I mean? Too freaking much in one book. Nothing is actually explored properly (except the inside of Ben's mouth with her tongue) and the effect is that I simply stopped caring about any of it.

****BIG SPOILER ALERT****

****REALLY, I MEAN IT****

****I'M GIVING AWAY THE BIGGEST TWIST OF THE BOOK HERE. DON'T READ MORE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW****

So, I said Janelle believes Ben has something to do with the radiation thing and the countdown. She finds out about halfway through the book that she's right. He's from another dimension, and it is his presence that is tearing the world apart. He and his two friends who came to "this" Earth have been making portholes in effort to find their way back home to "their" Earth, and it's drawing the two universes together, which will end in them colliding. This is where the book really lost me. All of a sudden, it's a sci-fi. And I so, totally, saw it coming. When the revelation came, I was more disappointed that I'd figured it out than anything, and after that point the whole book just felt cheesy.

Now maybe there was some big twist that would have blown my mind farther along. In all honesty, I skipped a number of chapters to read the last few because I got so annoyed with Janelle pining over Ben, when the world is supposedly eight days from total annihilation, and Ben, after seven years of obsessing about her, suddenly decides they "can't be together." It was like Edward Cullen took over his body. Those last chapters did nothing for me to make me want to look back and try to find a twist, though.

*NIT-PICKING*

Four times--count them--Janelle releases a breath she didn't know she was holding. Drove me nuts. This is a major cliche in fiction when it's used once. Four times is ridiculous. Also, Janelle makes a phone call on a cell phone that "shattered" a chapter or so before. And with the amount of tongue-wrestling in the book, one would think the author would understand that you can't "nibble" on someones *bottom lip* if their tongue is *in* your mouth. Sorry, I know, that is petty of me, and the copy I have is an ARC, but, dear editor, *fix it*.