Rowena’s review of Undercurrent by Paul E. Blackwell.
In this suspenseful teen thriller with a touch of the otherworldly, perfect for fans of Neal Shusterman, a boy goes over a waterfall and wakes up to find himself in a twisted version of the life he knew.
A shadowy figure. An intense roar. The sensation of falling—fast.
That’s all Callum Harris remembers from his tumble over the waterfall. But when he wakes up in a hospital bed and finds his best friend trying to kill him, Callum knows something is seriously wrong. Unfortunately for him, the mysteries are just getting started.
Why are his parents acting like he’s some big sports star all of a sudden? And why are all the buildings in town more run-down than Callum remembers? Worst of all…what happened to Callum’s brother? Either Callum has gone seriously crazy or something happened when he went over the falls. Something impossible. Callum needs answers, and now. Because in this twisted new version of the life Callum knew, his former best friend isn’t the only one who wants to see him dead.
Filled with mind-bending suspense and unsettling thrills, Undercurrent is a grippingly paced teen debut that will pull you under and never let go.
I wanted to read this book because the synopsis was interesting to me. I wanted to find out what happened to Callum and why he’s remembering his life totally different from the one that he wakes up to.
Callum falls into Crystal Falls which is the waterfall that his town is famous for. When he wakes up from a three day coma, he finds the life that he had before he fell into the water is not the life that he has now. And that makes him very confused. As he tries to figure out what happened to him and why the friends that he had before are not his friends now, things get very twisty and clouded. Because the reality that he’s living with now is not a reality that he wants any part of. People are different in this new reality and he’s not very well liked. Hell, he doesn’t even like himself much which makes him even more determined to find out what’s going on and how he can get back to his real home.
While I couldn’t put this book down, when I finished the book, I still had a lot of questions and I heard that this book was written with a sequel in mind so I’m hoping that we get that sequel so that hopefully, the answers to my questions will be forthcoming. I thought the author did a great job of pulling me along with his storytelling but after all was said and done, I wasn’t completely satisfied and a lot of that had to do with the way that the book just ended. I wanted to know about Willow from the other alternate reality (that he woke up in), I wanted to know what happened with Cole (was he ever going to get better or was he just stuck in that bed for the rest of his life? Were they doing anything to help him?) and what about the way that Cal’s Mom was quick to reassure Cal about being away from Cole and how she left him alone? Why didn’t she stand up for herself? Why did everyone let Cal get away with everything? How in the world did Cal get away with everything that he did? I was left with too many questions and because of that my overall enjoyment of the book suffered.
Grade: 3 out of 5
This book is available from Harper Teen. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.