Vestige (Vestige #1)
Urban
Fantasy / Horror
Title: Vestige
Author:
Deb Hanrahan
Date Published: 6/13/2012
Synopsis:
.EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
Civil Authorities have issued a Civil Danger Notification Until Further Notice.
The following message is being transmitted by the request of The United States Government. An unknown number of citizens have gone missing. Authorities are trying to locate the missing persons. Residents are asked to stay in their homes. If you must go out, do not travel alone and carry proper identification.
Please do not call 911 to report missing persons. Emergency Call Centers and local law enforcement agencies are no longer fully staffed. The United States Military has been dispatched to assist local authorities.
This notification applies to all receiving this broadcast. Please stand by for further instructions.
_________________________________________________
In the Midwestern suburb of LaGrange, something is amiss. Over a twenty-four-hour period, all the children under the age of thirteen along with many adults have disappeared without explanation. It doesn’t take long for those left behind to learn that this tragedy is part of a global event. As people panic, civilization begins to crumble. Luckily, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Daniel Grimshaw, has a plan to restore order. But first, every remaining person must be accounted for and tagged with a mark on their right hand.
Unaware of his responsibilities, seventeen-year-old Micah has been preparing for this day. His mother trained him and provided him with the proper tools, but she neglected to tell Micah about the family legacy, his legacy. Now that his mother is among the missing, will Micah ever discover who he is, or what he needs to do to save what’s left of humanity from the hellfire of perdition?
Vestige is the first book in a two book series.
The following message is being transmitted by the request of The United States Government. An unknown number of citizens have gone missing. Authorities are trying to locate the missing persons. Residents are asked to stay in their homes. If you must go out, do not travel alone and carry proper identification.
Please do not call 911 to report missing persons. Emergency Call Centers and local law enforcement agencies are no longer fully staffed. The United States Military has been dispatched to assist local authorities.
This notification applies to all receiving this broadcast. Please stand by for further instructions.
_________________________________________________
In the Midwestern suburb of LaGrange, something is amiss. Over a twenty-four-hour period, all the children under the age of thirteen along with many adults have disappeared without explanation. It doesn’t take long for those left behind to learn that this tragedy is part of a global event. As people panic, civilization begins to crumble. Luckily, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Daniel Grimshaw, has a plan to restore order. But first, every remaining person must be accounted for and tagged with a mark on their right hand.
Unaware of his responsibilities, seventeen-year-old Micah has been preparing for this day. His mother trained him and provided him with the proper tools, but she neglected to tell Micah about the family legacy, his legacy. Now that his mother is among the missing, will Micah ever discover who he is, or what he needs to do to save what’s left of humanity from the hellfire of perdition?
Vestige is the first book in a two book series.
Paperback, first, 260 pages
Wow! I seriously fell hard for the synopsis of the book, didn't you. I really had high hopes for this book.
The book was fast paced with danger and suspense. And like Eden's Root by Rachel Fisher, it was so shockingly possible for us. It was scary how familiar many of the things in the book were in real life. Everything seemed possible, a true rapture story. The plot was just attention grabbing. There were tension and suspense throughout the book. But I do have to say, and kind of contradict myself by saying, the story can be predictable if I think about it.
As some of you might know I am not religious and am not very "educated" in religion. The book mentions the bible and at times I didn't make any connection but it was interesting for me to understand the connection.
Before I go into talking about the characters, I have to say, I love male main characters and guess what? Vestige has a main male character. Woot! Micah was such a great character. He acted like a true teenager and didn't sound like the author had to fake his personality. He was also very real and relatable. By having this book written in different POVs, I got to see many of the characters' back stories. Some of the back stories I felt they were lacking with certain details but that wasn't a big deal (perhaps we will learn more detail in the sequel?). But one con about the muti POVs was that it reminded me of you know the TV show Heroes. It got I don't know, too much at times.
Oh yeah! The book had a cliffhanger! (Torture!)
Overall this was a great book, can't wait for the second book.
Long Excerpt from Vestige
By the time the lunch bell rang, Micah was certain that everyone had chilled, so he made his way to the school courtyard and to their usual table. As he approached his friends, he could see that Jess was crying, and then he noticed Dustin’s arm draped around her shoulder.
“Hey Jess...What’s going on?” Micah put his hand on her shoulder and pushed Dustin’s arm off.
Dustin grinned at Micah. “Just comforting your girlfriend...”
“Jess...seriously...what’s wrong?” Micah wedged himself between Jess and Dustin, forcing Dustin to slide over several inches.
“My family...my little brother and sisters are gone. The police think some cult kidnapped them...all of them.” Jess buried her face into Micah’s shoulder and continued her sobbing. “Oh Micah, what am I going to do? This is the worst day of my entire life.”
Micah put his arm around Jess and kissed the top of her pink head. “So...I guess we’re not babysitting.”
Jess stopped crying, lifted her head, and glared at Micah. She pushed his arm away, picked up her things, and marched off. Amber shot Micah a disgusted look and ran after her friend.
“Smooth,” Cody said.
“What? I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to know,” replied Micah.
“Yeah right, jackass,” Dustin said. “You just wanted to know if you were still going to get some. Don’t you care about anyone but yourself?” Dustin smirked.
“What makes you think Micah’s getting any? This kid is still a virgin. Isn’t that right, Micah,” mocked Cody.
“It’s none of your business,” said Micah.
“Jess tells Amber everything, and Amber tells me everything,” said Cody.
Micah tried to change the subject. “Are we going to the park after school today?”
“Nah, man. I have to look for my dog,” Cody said. “He ran away or something. He’s been missing since last night. I let him out around 8:00, and when I went to let him back in, he was gone. I bet my dad left the gate open on purpose. He hates that dog.”
“That’s weird. My neighbor’s dog ran away too,” Dustin added. “He was yellin’ that dog’s name all night, ‘Daphne...Daphne.... Where are you girl?’ What a douche. I didn’t sleep at all.”
“I saw a lady looking for her dog this morning,” Micah said.
“Maybe the same cult that took Jess’s little brother and sisters took all the dogs too.” Dustin laughed.
Micah thought about the dog from his dream. It was still so clear. It seemed as if it had actually happened. He could almost feel the pressure of the dog’s teeth on his hand. He looked down at his open palm and gasped at the sight of two small bruises. Were those teeth marks? He turned his hand over and saw a matching pair on the opposite side. At first, Micah stared at the marks in disbelief, but then he thought about his hasty departure that morning. He must have grabbed a rough piece of wood or scratched himself on a nail.
“Let’s meet at the park tomorrow morning,” concluded Cody. “Micah, did you hear me?”
Micah snapped back to reality. “Yeah, sure...park...tomorrow morning.”
“Wanna ditch?” Since Micah wasn’t going to see Jess after school, he wanted to skip an afternoon of total boredom. He couldn’t stand the thought of sitting in the auditorium for another three hours.
“Nah, me and Amber are in the library together. She’ll be pissed if I ditch without her,” replied Cody.
“I’m in the cafeteria.” Dustin looked at Micah. “Jess is too.”
“Asshole,” Micah muttered.
“You’re on your own, Micah.” Cody stood and headed towards the school. Dustin gave Micah one last smirk and followed Cody.
“Fine.” As Micah slinked away in the other direction, he wondered where he should go. He couldn’t go home, and since he only had a fiver, he couldn’t hang out at the arcade. He eventually settled on the park.
Ever since Micah was a kid, he loved the park. It was just so…ordinary—an ordinary place where ordinary parents played with their ordinary kids. It became his refuge from the crazy. He would watch these ordinary people and take mental pictures, and these pictures would sustain his daydreams for as long as he needed them to do so. These people gave him hope that maybe one day he might have an ordinary family of his own.
Deb lives with her husband and three teenagers in the Chicagoland burbs.
After graduating from the
Seemingly, overnight, she went from being crazy-busy to having way too
much time on her hands. With her husband working long hours and her kids
pursuing their own lives, she decided to write that novel she always wanted to
write. Vestige is her second novel.
Now Giveaway Time!
Sounds so good. Right up my alley!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading and reviewing my book. I'm so glad you liked it. Love the blog!
ReplyDeleteDeb
Thanks for the chance to win
ReplyDeleteI think we all have those moments when the Emergency Broadcast comes on the television for testing wondering if this is it. Thank you sharing about this interesting book and for the opportunity to win a copy.
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