REVIEW: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

 

Author: Elizabeth Norris

Pages: 445

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Amazon: Unraveling

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

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.

REVIEW: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I have been anxiously awaiting Unraveling since I first read the intriguing synopsis and I am so pleased it didn’t fail to disappoint, I was mesmerized from the very first page.

Janelle Tenner is the daughter of the head of the counterintelligence unit at the FBI who lives for his job; she is virtually raising her younger brother Jared while her mother suffers from bipolar.

Unraveling starts off with a bang, Janelle knows she should be dead; she was hit by a pick-up truck but was miraculously bought back to life by the school loner Ben Michaels. This is only the start of the puzzle though as bodies are beginning to pile up and she knows it is somehow related to the case her father is working on and a mysterious countdown clock.

Janelle was such an amazing character; she had strength, compassion, and a kick-butt determination to follow things through to the end. I loved her humor and the fact she knew what she wanted.

Now, Ben Michaels was a huge mystery and I loved his broodiness and protective ways, he had me curious from the onset and his story was certainly fascinating and kept me wanting to know more.

I loved each of the secondary characters, Alex Trechter was probably one of the best friends I have read about more recently and the relationship Janelle had with her brother, father and father’s partner Struz was wonderful; I enjoyed their banter.

There was a lot happening in Unraveling but nothing that became too confusing. The story Ms Norris weaved came together perfectly. It was a plot that I certainly found interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed her writing.

Unraveling is a fast-paced, action packed read that had me captivated throughout. I was so shocked by who the bad guy was, I along with Janelle was trying to work out this mystery as the book went along and I was completely clueless which I loved! I enjoy a great suspense and this book had plenty of it.

All in all, I enjoyed learning about the Parallel Universes and following the kick-butt cast of characters illegally involving themselves in an unusual federal investigation with the countdown indicating the world was about to end, it was also a really sweet romance. Unraveling was a gripping read and I will definitely be picking up the sequel.