Wake Up Missing

Thanks to Kate Messner, I woke up missing...a day that is, well, okay an afternoon. 

Wake Up Missing is a riveting thriller.

I was not able to recreate the Everglades, a swamp, or hospital setting, or any alligators, so I decided to take this book down to the dock, on the lake, where the water snake has been in residence.  

photo courtesy of www.nhtourguide.com

I have not had the presence of mind to take a picture of our snake, so I found this one to show you.  There are snakes in all the lakes around here.  They're not poisonous, but their bite hurts like the dickens and they are just plain scary. Scary, that is the operative word.  I needed to read this book in a spot that would create empathy with the characters.  Sitting on the dock, with the water snake potential was sufficiently scary for me. (FYI - I swim across the lake, not getting near the shores because OF COURSE the water snakes ONLY swim the perimeter of the lake, of this I am sure...or at least want to believe and don't tell me otherwise).

I opened the book and began to read...and for the next few hours I read - I read through my husband going to the store to buy dinner and I read through my daughter and her friend setting up a lovely sunset snack for us--at which point I stopped reading, but when the house was quiet at midnight, I picked my book back up and read until the end.

This is one exciting read.  

I love how Kate Messner throws the reader into the story and how quickly the action picks up.

I love the characters - all broken in their own way, all needing to be healed. Cat, Sarah, Ben and Quint (as well as Trent and Kaylee) quickly become people for whom the reader cares.  

I love the setting - swamps, mangrove trees, dirt roads, and an abandoned military base.  I have driven through the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee and I can't imagine a better place to have these kids fighting for their survival.

I love the plot - good versus evil, right versus wrong and all the grey area that exists in between wrapped around questions surrounding scientific discovery, crooked politicians and evil doctors.

I love the ending - leaving enough uncertainty for the future of the characters.  I don't always like when books tie up everything neatly at the end.  I was happy that Kate Messner left enough questions for the reader to continue the story and sort things out in his or her own mind.

I love Kate Messner's inspiration for this story.  The premise is incredible (taking DNA from dead scientists and implanting it in young children with head injuries), but what is more incredible is that it is based upon science and scientific potential in the future. Read Kate's Author's Note, it is fascinating.