TERMINAL

The final installment of mother-and-son Virals series finds Tory and her friends at a turning point: If they don’t take action soon, their world will change beyond their control.

Tory and her fellow Virals are happy with their life on an isolated island in Charleston harbor, commuting to school on the mainland, participating in sports—and spending their free time communing with Tory’s pet wolf cub and exploring their own virus-generated wolflike traits. But just when it seems that life is settling down, they find that they are not unique; there’s another pack of Virals in town, determined to mark the territory as theirs and theirs alone. And worse is yet to come: It seems that a secret government agency is tracking both packs down, fully intent on capturing them and learning all their secrets…even if that means subjecting them to invasive surgery. But worst of all, their own independent research tells them the virus has changed their cellular makeup and may even threaten their lives. This series conclusion has all the ingredients that made the first four installments so easy to read: solid character development, a viable plot incorporating both teenage angst and teenage adventure, and high stakes readers can believe in.

A worthy coda to a gripping multivolume adventure.