Human.4

My second review! (Okay, that's not exactly a hugely auspicious moment, but I like to praise myself. And use lots of parentheses. Deal with it.) Okay, this week I'm doing Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster (I wonder what the A stands for? Arthur? Archibald? Andriloween? Okay, now I'm just getting off topic.) Aaaaand without further ado….

Human.4 kind of plays with a couple themes, like a “higher power,” but the main theme is technology gone too far. Kyle lives in a small town, where an annual talent (I use that term loosely) show is held. This year, his friend Danny is doing a hypnotizing act and on a whim he volunteers to be hypnotized. When he and his friend Lilly, who had also volunteered, wake up, they are greeted with an odd sight. Every human in the area is as still as a statue (kinda like a freeze frame, but in 3D). The phones don’t work, the computers all display a strange code in some foreign language, and the TV’s just show static. All of a sudden, everyone wakes up.  They’re definitely not the same, though. Everyone simply gets up from where they were frozen and walk home. To Kyle, it’s creepily quiet. When he tries to ask his parents what’s going on, they reply in unison: “Nothing.”

So, is this all part of the hypnosis? Are they going to wake up to a roaring crowd at any second? Or is something much more sinister going on?

(Insert evil laugh here). Sorry, I just wanted the chance to say sinister. Come on, you can’t say sinister without doing an evil laugh in a supervillain voice. It’s just the rules. Anyway, this is an awesome book. Kind of gives you the creeps, though, once you’ve read the whole thing, because it’s science fiction-y but if this was happening in real life none of us would realize it. I’ll let that serve to pique your curiosity, so go out and get this book! It’s available at Mt. Edgecumbe or Sitka High.