Gone (Grant novel)

Gone

First edition cover
Author	Michael Grant
Cover artist	Joel Tippie (design) Amber Gray (photograph)
Language	English
Series	Gone series
Genre	Young adult, Supernatural
Publisher	Imprint: HarperTeen
Publication date	June 24, 2008
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	576 pp
ISBN	9780061448768
Followed by	Hunger

Gone is a young adult supernatural novel written by author Michael Grant, originally published in hardcover in 2008. It is the first novel of the Gone series.

Plot

In the small town of Perdido Beach, California, every adult and teenager fifteen and over mysteriously disappears. This event in turn causes mass chaos and confusion among the remaining population, and main character Sam Temple, who is credited with saving his fellow students on a field trip when their bus driver had a heart attack, attempts to rescue a little girl from a burning building. During the scene, he discovers that the child has an ability to create flame from her arms, and Sam uses his own “Power” of firing light to save himself from the blazing building, but the young fire starter dies in the process. Not fully understanding the situation he and the current residents of Perdido Beach are in, he decides to look for Little Petey, the autistic little brother of Astrid Ellison, the local kid genius and Sam’s love interest in the story.

Along with Astrid and Quinn Gaither, Sam’s best friend, the group searches the Clifftop Resort first, and, while they don’t find L.P., they do discover both an energy barrier that cuts off the kids from the outside world and the new Honduran student Edilio Escobar, who the group befriends. After resting for the night at the hotel, they continue to search for L.P., and, while traveling to the town’s nuclear power plant, come across town bullies Orc and Howard, who call their current problem the FAYZ, or “Fallout Alley Youth Zone”. When they get to the plant, they find Little Petey,and, along with him, a map of radiation patterns that mimic the FAYZ perfectly. During the night, when Sam accidentally awakens Little Petey, he nearly chokes Sam by crying with a Power of his own.

After escaping the power plant, Sam comes clean with his story about his abilities, saying that he first discovered them when he burned his ex-stepfather’s hand off during an argument between him and Sam’s mother. Little Petey can also do multiple feats, like teleportation, when he transferred himself and Astrid from his room to hers once.

When the group returns to town, vehicles arrive in Perdido Beach, being driven by the students of Coates Academy, a school for the wealthy and troubled. Leading the act is Caine Soren, who gains the townies’ trust by promising better leadership and life. But after using the local church for planning with other elected kids, the building suffers minor damages by a strange force, nearly killing one of the local bullies.

The reader then discovers that Caine and some of the kids have the Power, with Caine, a telekinetic, having the highest level of power read by his companion and crush Diana Ladris. Along with the psychopathic Coates student Drake Merwin, Caine soon takes command of the FAYZ by using the local bullies to work for him and making Sam the fire chief because of his previous actions, soon resulting in the beating and death of townie “Bouncing” Bette by the hands of the local bully, Orc.

Soon, Caine and his lackeys steal Sam’s mother’s laptop and secret chest, which contains both her will and Sam’s birth certificate, the Coates kids learn that Caine and Sam are fraternal twins. The kids decide to use this in order to beat the “poof”, or the supernatural disappearance that happens whenever someone turns fifteen. When Quinn, who has been growing resentful at Sam since the FAYZ began, betrays Sam and the bullies kidnap him, Astrid, and Little Pete while they’re shopping and take them to Caine, who reveals the information of their relation to Sam. Before he can delve deeper, Astrid and L.P. teleport to their home, and Quinn is able to free Sam while Drake hunts down Astrid. The group, along with Edillo, goes to the Clifftop Hotel and finds her before Drake.

Hoping that a gateway to the FAYZ may exist somewhere, the kids circle around the barrier, and soon meet Lana Arwen Lazar, who was visiting her grandfather until his truck crashed and Lana was forced to survive starvation and injuries with her dog Patrick, developing healing powers and being chased by coyotes, who now have human-like intelligence as a result of the FAYZ. After escaping the coyotes and their Pack Leader using Sam’s Power, the group is captured by Caine’s allies, but by using L.P.’s ability, they free themselves and other Coates students with Powers.

Now expecting an attack by Caine because of their coming birthdays, Sam becomes the leader everyone wanted him to be, and prepares everyone for the upcoming battle by arming them with machineguns retrieved from the plant, along with a security video that shows Little Petey saving Perdido Beach by stopping a nuclear meltdown, but by doing so, causing the FAYZ.

Meanwhile, Drake, who only has one arm because of a battle with Sam earlier on, kidnaps Lana, but before she can heal him, Pack Leader and the coyotes attack Drake’s team, wanting Lana so she can teach them how to kill humans. The two species form an alliance, and the coyotes take the humans to the Darkness, a mysterious creature who lives at the bottom of a mine, who gives Drake a new whip-like arm in exchange for knowledge on how to kill humans.

Soon, on his and Sam’s birthday, Caine returns with his group of mutants and the army of coyotes, and the battle ensures. When the coyotes and Drake surround the day care, which is the new living place for the younger kids, Sam and his army save the kids and manage to drive Drake and the coyotes away. Though the plan works at first, Caine orders the coyotes to start attacking the kids so he can fight with Sam. By destroying many building in the process and giving Little Pete a serious head injury, the brothers fight to a standstill until the time they turn fifteen, and their mother appears before them while time stops. Though she wants them to come with her, they both refuse, and she turns into a gruesome monster described as a “mouth ringed with needle-sharp teeth”, which warns Caine that he will come to it soon. After it disappears and time starts again, Sam is able to gain the upper hand, and demands that Caine and his allies leave town. Orc, who had been with Drake when the coyotes attacked and who had been mortally wounded in the process, has had a stone armour envelope most of his body and fights Drake until Drake is called away.

A few days later, during Thanksgiving, Sam tells the kids of Perdido Beach that things will probably get tougher on them, but that they should enjoy the day, make the FAYZ a better world, and thank those who fought with their lives and those who gave them up for the battles. Afterwards, Sam takes Astrid to the beach, where he planned to sit and watch the sun with her.

Somewhere in the local desert, Caine follows Pack Leader to the Darkness.

Main Characters

Sam Temple: Fourteen-year-old Sam is the main character(now fifteen by the end of the first book). He's said to be a "surfer who didn’t hang out with surfers...bright, but not a brain." He is also noted as being good-looking but low-profile in terms of appearance. Sam has the Power, which he displays through the ability to create heated light whenever he is in panic. The light is projected through his palms and can severely burn and even blow up objects if he isn't careful. Sam has a crush on Astrid Ellison and his best friend is Quinn Gaither, and he known to nearly everyone in school as School Bus Sam, a fact that pushes him to become a sort of leader among the townies while in the FAYZ.

Astrid Ellison: Astrid the Genius, as she is known, is the smartest girl in school and possibly all of Perdido Beach. She is looked to for her intelligence throughout most of the book, though oftentimes, she is also underestimated because of the way she looks. (Astrid is said to have shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes, and she likes to dress in starched-white blouses.) She seems to have the Power as well but as of now, it is uncertain what that power may be.

Little Pete: Astrid's four-year-old autistic brother. He is described as being pretty, like a girl, and a bit strange. He has the power to teleport others and himself to other locations and, as Sam and Astrid find through the help of a security tape at the power plant, he is the one responsible for the FAYZ. (Or, at least, the disappearances.) Pete only reacts to trigger words such as "window seat" and such; otherwise, he is almost completely unresponsive and keeps his attention focused on a Pokémon video game.

Quinn Gaither: Sam's best friend, who is described as giving off a "weird-guy vibe" with the way he dresses and acts. Quinn is a surfer and despite being bigger and supposedly stronger than Sam, he isn't mentally able to handle devastating events. He breaks down quite often and in his fear, he doesn't think too clearly and turns on his friends to save himself. However, his conscience comes back to taunt him and keeps him wavering on the brink of insanity while he's in the FAYZ. He relies on Sam's guidance most of the time; whenever he does things for himself, he ends up getting confused or scared. In spite of all this, he proves to be helpful during situations in which he isn't too afraid to do anything.

Edilio Escobar: The new boy in school who quickly proves his worth in the FAYZ. He quarrels half the time with Quinn throughout the novel (Quinn makes constant jokes concerning the fact that Edilio is Hispanic). He is responsible for burying dead bodies whenever they turn up.

Lana Arwen Lazar: Lana was driving with her grandfather and her dog Patrick when the FAYZ occurred. The truck crashed and left her too injured to move, but it is because of this that she soon discovers she has the power to heal with her touch. Lana and Patrick take refuge in a hermit's abandoned hut while they are out in the desert wilderness and during this time, she finds that the local coyotes can somehow talk. They take her hostage, telling her that she needs to teach them to kill because The Darkness demands so, but she is later "rescued" by Sam and his gang when they come across her hut. Lana uses her power to heal the injuries suffered by children at the Coates Academy who have been punished for having the Power.

Mary Terrafino: Mary watches over the children and preschoolers in the FAYZ and keeps them calm. She is referred to as "Mother Mary" by the 'prees', the town name for preschoolers and other young children whom can't care for them selves.

John Terrafino: John is Mary's younger brother. He helps Mary out with the kids. He is called "Brother John" by the 'prees'.

Charles "Orc" Merriman: The local bully that terrorized the townies and assumed the position of Captain until Caine arrived. He accidentally kills a girl named Bette and retreats to his house, drowning himself in beer as a means of escape from what he's done. His right-hand man, Howard, looks after him while he goes through this phase. After being attacked and mortally wounded by coyotes later on in the story, he begins transforming into some sort of beast forged by gravel; only half of his face remains human.

Caine Soren: A teen from Coates Academy that comes to govern the townies, seeming like a pleasant person at first. It is soon discovered that he plans to rule the FAYZ with the help of his aids, Diana Ladris and Drake Merwin. He possesses the Power of telekinesis, being able to smash people into walls or lift things or people into the air, but chooses only to use it when he needs to. He keeps the hands of the other Coates children with power bound in concrete so that they can't rise against him or do anything about their position. Caine is Sam's fraternal twin brother, but that is unknown until about halfway through the book.

Diana Ladris: Caine's chief assistant, with the power to read power levels of other teens and children. She describes it as a cell phone bar type of thing. The most powerful person she has ever read was Little Pete, Astrids brother; she describes him as being "like a seven bar." She's depicted as giving Caine and everyone else a hard time and snarky remarks and she is usually called a witch by Sam`s people, but Caine seems to be in love with her despite this.

Drake Merwin: A teen with shark-like features, responsible for taking care of Caine's dirty work. He often totes a gun around and will use it if necessary. He is sadistic, repeatedly referred to as a psychopath throughout the novel, and likes to inflict pain or even death to many kids in the FAYZ. His arm is burnt off by Sam in the middle of the novel and the Darkness grants him a red "whip" in its places, which he uses as a weapon to torture and kill the other teenagers, earning him the nickname "Whip-Hand" from the coyotes.

Computer Jack: Caine's techie. He isn't anywhere near as heartless as his peers but in fear, he agrees to help Caine with whatever he needs. It is Jack who discovers what the poof really is and he finds out how to defeat it. He also has the Power which in him manifests itself as superhuman strength. He comes under Diana's sway, but later sides with Sam.

Albert Hillsborough: Albert runs the local McDonald's that has been left vacant, providing cooked meals to the other teens and kids.

Howard Bassem: one of Orc's bully cronies and his best friend.

Pack Leader One of the book's primary antagonists, Pack Leader is the alpha male of a pack of mutant coyotes capable of human speech, and who serves a mysterious monster called "The Darkness". Pack Leader spends much of the novel seeking Lana so she can teach the coyotes how to efficiently kill humans. After taking Drake to The Darkness, Pack Leader joins Caine's forces and he and his pack participate in the attack on Perdido Beach. At the end of the novel, Pack Leader is shown taking Caine to meet the Darkness.

Sequel

HarperTeen has released the sequel entitled, Hunger. It was released on May 26, 2009, and is planned to be released April 5, 2010 in the United Kingdom. Grant announced on Twitter that the finished third book will be entitled "Lies" and will not be released until May,2010. He has stated that he is starting to write the fourth book entitled "Plague". It's planned to be a 6 book series.

UK Publication of Gone

Gone is published the United Kingdom by Egmont Publishing in April 2009. The UK marketing campaign makes the whole book available to read online for free between the 8th and 22nd of April on the Egmont Gone main page. In the UK, the book is published with a different cover.

External links

• Gone homepage at HarperTeen
• Gone main page at Egmont Publishing