A DIAMOND IN MY POCKET

A teen wielding newfound superpowers joins others on a potentially deadly mission in Angell’s YA novel, the first in a series.

Ohio high-schooler Calli Courtnae amazes even herself when she breaks a world record in a 100-meter race. This prompts an invitation to a Montana facility, where she’s told she’ll train for the Olympic qualifications. She’s barely there a day when she learns the facility’s true purpose: training youngsters with cosmic-powered abilities from reading minds to healing. Calli is a Runner and, like everyone else there, belongs to a “clan” of people with the same power. She’s quickly put on a delivery assignment with fellow Runners. They’re to deliver the Sanguine Diamond as ransom payment to a nefarious group that has abducted individuals hailing from each clan. This seemingly easy assignment is complicated by a traitor in the Runners’ midst. Calli, meanwhile, wonders how she’s showing signs of other abilities (like peeking into people’s minds) when having more than one cosmic power supposedly isn’t possible. Angell packs this opening series installment with character development. At times, it’s a bit too much; Calli picks up and masters several powers while falling into a brand-new romance, all in the span of a few days. However, the dilemmas she faces—she envisions a future with a lethal outcome that she’d like to change, for one—make for a riveting story. And she has grounded problems as well, like suffering the undue animosity of nearly every teen or tween in attendance when she first arrives at the facility (“a word of advice . . . showing off around here will only get you beat up”). The bulk of this narrative follows the Runners’ trek up north (to Canada); there’s constant peril as sinister, olfactorily enhanced Hunters track Calli and the others. The reason for Calli’s multiple powers becomes clearer as the story progresses to an ending that leaves subplots open for sequels, namely the aforementioned romance.

This sometimes cluttered but consistently gripping fantasy will surely pique readers’ interest in the volumes to come.