ACID

January 13, 2014
The question dogging Pass’s debut is, “Why?” Why has 17-year-old Jenna Strong an escapee from a maximum-security prison two years after being sentenced to life for murdering her parents? Why is she given an elaborate new identity by mysterious strangers and sent to hide in a squalid ghetto of 2113 London, now a police state? It’s a long time before these basic motivational questions are addressed. Meanwhile, Jenna becomes entangled with the son of the man who broke her out of prison, her cover goes wrong, and she winds up on the run from the agents of ACID—the Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense—the new masters of England. It’s a standard totalitarian dystopia fraught with the usual perils for a protagonist living outside the rules, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s not particularly twisty or intriguing, either, and with no apparent rationale for the action, the book relies on readers’ genre expectations to carry the plot until some of the questions begin to be framed. Ages 14–up. Agent: Carolyn Whitaker, London Independent Books.

March 1, 2014
A teenage fugitive unravels the truth about her past while dismantling a dystopian police state. Imprisoned for the murder of her parents by the Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense, 17-year-old Jenna Strong hones her fighting skills under the tutelage of the prison medic, Dr. Fisher. Just as an altercation with an inmate lands her in the infirmary, a riot breaks out, and Jenna finds herself at the center of a covert rescue mission that ends with her escape and Dr. Fisher's death. Jenna's rescuers give her a new identity, but it isn't long before she finds herself in the cross hairs of ACID again as Max Fisher, the son of her old friend, runs into her not long before her cover is blown. The first-person narrative revs up quickly but slows considerably halfway through the book when Jenna is forced to make a critical and unpleasant decision. Pass draws an uneven portrait of a traumatized heroine; Jenna never regains the steeliness she had in prison after she's reintroduced into society. She falls easily for Max, a wooden character happy to remain mostly in her shadow. Devoted fans of the genre may find intrigue in a walled-off future United Kingdom but will wish for a more dynamic heroine to deliver its revolution. A dutiful dystopia that never delves below its shallow surface. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Jenna Strong has been broken out of prison by a mysterious group fighting against ACID, the totalitarian government ruling Britain in 2113. Although she was imprisoned for the murder of her parents, she hardly remembers the night it happened. Now she's on the run, trying to stay under ACID's radar as she reclaims her memories, her identity, and her life. While ACID begins with a compelling premise and a protagonist who is strong and strongly characterized, it quickly weakens. Three times in the book, Jenna is assigned a new identity, sometimes accompanied by new memories. In each instance, the story is essentially reset, disrupting the pacing, dissipating any tension, and setting Jenna off in a new direction. The plot relies too much on coincidence, making it feel that Jenna's story is happening to her rather than because of her. Jenna's love for Max, the son of the man who died rescuing her, further weakens the protagonist and plot. It clouds her judgment, making her take selfish risks that the cold, calculating Jenna readers meet in prison would never take. There's no explanation for why she loves him, only that she "feel[s] an inexplicable pull towards him, a rush of intense love...." ACID's premise will draw in plenty of readers, but it fails to deliver much substance or satisfaction. Strictly for dystopian completionists-there's better fare to be had in the saturated market for the genre.-Gretchen Kolderup, New York Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 In the year 2113, 17-year-old Jenna Strong is locked away in an all-male prison by ACID (Agency of Crime Investigation and Defense), a brutal totalitarian police force, for a violent crime she cannot remember committing. Once a pampered upper-class teen with a perfect life ahead of her in the vigilantly controlled dystopian society, Jenna, after two years in prison, is tougher than most of the inmates, down to the tattoo on her neck that crudely tells the world just where it can go. After she is unwittingly smuggled out of the prison by a rebel group during a riot, she falls in with them, convinced by their determined leader to help bring the ugly truth about the totalitarian regime to the people. As Jenna joins in the struggle against ACID, she slowly begins to decipher conflicting clues about her own history, which has been more orchestrated than she ever realized. Plot holes detract in this debut novel, but the extremely capable female protagonist drives the story and should attract an appreciative audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Jenna, incarcerated for the supposed murder of her parents, questions her twenty-second-century society after a resistance group helps her escape. This event launches an adventure in which she must assume layers of secret identities. ACID, the police force running what was once the United Kingdom, modifies her memory more than once, and the resulting unreliable narration makes for a fresh take on the dystopian genre.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)