Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma
Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best
friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up
Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob
have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially
deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time
equal to the “daytimers.”
On a random summer night, the trio
catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon
herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating
the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love,
Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about
the people she trusts the most. (From Goodreads.)
This debut novel from Soho
Teen leaves no doubt in my mind that this will be an imprint to watch out for.
Jacquelyn Mitchard has created for us a suspenseful and intense story that
combines the best of what we love in YA with highly original subject matter.
Allie Kim is in the midst of coming of age, but she has the added struggle of
doing it in dark. Unable to attend school, her closest friends are her family
and two kids who also have this disease. Juliet is a spur-of-the-moment kind of
girl, always the fearless leader of the group. Rob is the levelheaded guy, in
love with Juliet and unaware of Allie’s love for him--but what sounds like
another love-triangle waiting to happen thankfully doesn’t actually play a huge part in
the story.
What does play a big part is the sport of Parkour. You may be
wondering how a book can ever adequately portray such a physical and visual
discipline. At first I was unsure about how well it could be done, but
Jacquelyn handles it flawlessly. While you may not be able to exactly visualize
the stunts without any knowledge of Parkour, the high tension and imagery help
to create the same thrill within the reader. The other aspect of the story that
plays a big part is the XP. I loved that this book was able to bring two unique
aspects to one story. The fact that everything had to happen at night gave the
bonus creepy factor and raised the tension in any of the Parkour scenes,
knowing that they could barely see what they were doing while leaping from one
building top to another. And, of course, there was the mystery. Soho Teen’s
distinguishing aspect, the constant wondering what was going on, who knew what,
and what was going to happen next keeps you on your toes through all 272 page.
And
so the only question I have left is: when
does the sequel come out?
Written by Renee Combs
