APRIL 2015 - AudioFile
Simone Missick narrates in a low, serious tone that befits this thriller in which a deadly flu pandemic is spreading across the globe in the near future. At the same time, Emily Bird comes out of a coma with holes in her memory after being drugged at a party. Missick creates a tentative voice for Bird as she tries to piece together what happened to her and begins to uncover a conspiracy that involves the government and her largely absent parents. Missick’s precise enunciation speaks to the privileged air of Bird’s Washington, DC, prep school world, and her subtle but clear distinction between voices furthers character development. The combination of intrigue, drama, action, and romance will engage listeners. A.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Robin Wasserman
This action-packed narrative is beautifully complicated by [Emily] Bird's persistent identity crisis, through which the personal and the political collide. As a black girl growing up in Washington, Bird is keenly aware of the city's racial and socio-economic inequities, systemic injustices thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic crisis…Johnson captures wondrously complex dynamics in the simplest of interactions…
Publishers Weekly
07/28/2014
Emily Bird knows what she’s supposed to do: graduate from her posh Washington, D.C., prep school; attend an Ivy League school; hold onto her appropriate boyfriend; keep her too-kinky hair chemically tamed; and assume her place among the elite. But a flu pandemic, which may be bioterrorism, means drones, tanks, quarantines, and more work for Emily’s parents—government scientists so busy that they don’t come home when Emily ends up in the hospital. That’s where Johnson’s story starts, with Emily under government observation, wondering whom to trust, and trying to figure out whether she’s ready to quit being good-girl Emily and become independent Bird. Johnson (The Summer Prince) blends high school drama, cloak-and-dagger intrigue, race and class inequities, coming of age, and a passionate love story, blending these disparate elements into a narrative that both requires and repays attention. Watching Bird make her way through a world filled with dangers—biological, political, personal—and find not just love, but also herself, makes for rewarding reading. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Summer Prince
*"Like leaping into cold water on a hot day, this original dystopian novel takes the breath away, refreshes, challenges, and leaves the reader shivering but yearning for another plunge." — Booklist, starred review
*"With its complicated history, founding myth, and political structure, Palmares Tres is compelling, as is the triple bond between June, Enki, and Gil as they challenge their world's injustices." — Publishers Weekly, starred review
*"An art project, a rebellion and a sacrifice make up this nuanced, original cyberpunk adventure ... Luminous." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Longlisted for the National Book Award
A Kirkus Best Book of the Year
APRIL 2015 - AudioFile
Simone Missick narrates in a low, serious tone that befits this thriller in which a deadly flu pandemic is spreading across the globe in the near future. At the same time, Emily Bird comes out of a coma with holes in her memory after being drugged at a party. Missick creates a tentative voice for Bird as she tries to piece together what happened to her and begins to uncover a conspiracy that involves the government and her largely absent parents. Missick’s precise enunciation speaks to the privileged air of Bird’s Washington, DC, prep school world, and her subtle but clear distinction between voices furthers character development. The combination of intrigue, drama, action, and romance will engage listeners. A.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2014-06-30
Lost memories, a deadly pandemic flu and the children of D.C.'s elite come together in this sophisticated bio-thriller.When Emily Bird wakes up in the hospital, the last thing she remembers is attending a party at a senator's home eight days earlier. She's told she had an accident after taking some bad designer drugs, but a threatening visit from a national security contractor whom Bird met at the party suggests the truth isn't so simple. Meanwhile, the entire Beltway is under an oppressive and all-too-believable quarantine and curfew thanks to a virulent new strain of flu. Bird's parents, two prominent black scientists, want her to avoid trouble after her misadventure, but she can't resist investigating. She finds an unlikely ally in Coffee, a diplomat's son who uses drugs and deals them to others but who also sees strength in Bird that she struggles to see in herself. Johnson, who astounded with her cyberpunk teen debut, The Summer Prince (2013), immerses readers in the complexities of Bird's world, especially her fraught relationship with her parents and the intersections of race and class at her elite prep school. The often lyrical third-person, present-tense narration, the compelling romance and the richly developed cast of characters elevate this novel far above more formulaic suspense fare.Utterly absorbing. (Suspense. 13 & up)
