| Rae Voight had worked very hard to become who she was at Sanderson Prep High School. She was the girlfriend of the school's quarterback, the most gorgeous guy in school and everyone wanted to be her friend. Everyone thought that her life was perfect. Of course, Rae never told anyone that her mother died in a mental hospital from a mysterious disease or that Rae's mom was in the hospital because she murdered her best friend. Rae had always worried that she would grow up to be like her mother and her worst fears came true when she started hearing strange thoughts in the school cafeteria and had a total breakdown.
After spending the summer at Fair Haven, an upscale psychiatric facility, Rae tries to convince herself that she is ready to go back to school. But even though she told everyone that she was better, Rae knows that she still gets those weird thoughts. Rae tries to resume her old life, but her best friend hates and fears her, her boyfriend started dating another girl and didn't even bother to tell her, and everyone seems to be whispering about her when she walks down the hallway. When a pipe bomb goes off in the bathroom of the Oakvale Institute where Rae is having group therapy, the strange thoughts tell her that someone wants to kill her. She saw Anthony Fascinelli, one of the guys in her group, leave the girls' restroom right before she entered and tells the police, but immediately wishes that she hadn't. Somehow Rae knows that Anthony didn't do it, but she has no idea how to prove it. Anthony wants to hate Rae, but he quickly discovers that Rae can pick up people's thoughts if she places her fingerprints over theirs. Can Rae use her newfound ability to get Anthony out of juvie? And who is trying to kill her and why? Fingerprints: Gifted Touch is a solid beginning for a good series. Rae is a great character. She is just a typical teenager worrying about all of the typical stuff - guys, school, etc. - when her whole life starts going out of control. The author did a great job at dealing with all of Rae's relationships with the other characters in the book and it was fun to get to know all of the people. Some of what happened in the book seemed pretty unlikely, like the pipe bomb in the girls' bathroom, but the plot is fast paced so the reader won't get bored. The story does have a cliffhanger ending, though, and so you will want to have the next book handy when you finish! | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - upbeat Time/era of story - 1980's-1999 Kids growing up/acting up? Yes Kids: - solving crimes (scooby doooo!) Internal struggle/realization? Yes Is this an adult or child's book? - Age 11-14 Coping with loss of loved one(s) Yes Loss of... Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school Something wrong upstairs/downstairs? - searching for identity/meaning Parents/lack of parents problem? Brain/Body disability? - mental illness Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - a teen Has magical powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main character: Ethnicity/Nationality Unusual characteristics: Main Adversary Identity: - an organization Profession/status: Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes Eccentric: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Genius Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 3 () United States Yes City? Yes Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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