WRECKED

In an alternate England, a tool that’s supposed to help vulnerable youths actually puts them in danger.

Minnie Reynolds is sick of foster homes, but she must wait until she turns 18 to move in with her older sister. Jake Mitchell has been kicked out of his house and is desperate to save enough money to get his mother and younger sister away from his abusive father. Minnie and Jake are offered spots at The Hive, a home for at-risk teens. There they can earn money by testing a radical new treatment plan, Spectrotext, an implant that converts thought patterns into coherent text. But the technology becomes yet another threat Minnie and Jake must deal with when the story finally kicks into high gear with the mysterious death of a friend. The teens are dragged into a world of drugs, money, and corruption. Nowhere is safe—and even their own thoughts could be used against them. Told through multiple first-person perspectives, stream-of-consciousness Spectrotext records, letters, emails, and a police transcript, the novel asks readers to piece together the jumbled narrative alongside the characters. While the premise is intriguing, the jarring shifts among perspectives and narrative styles disrupt the flow of the story and lead to inconsistent pacing. Nevertheless, readers may be entertained enough to keep reading as Minnie and Jake race to uncover the truth before they’re caught in the crossfire. Main characters present white.

An interesting premise that ultimately falls short.