Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson

Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet #1)

by R.J. Anderson 

Paperback, 416 pages

Published June 2nd 2011 by Orchard (first published January 1st 2011)

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Summary:

"Once upon a time there was a girl who was special. This is not her story. Unless you count the part where I killed her."

Sixteen-year-old Alison wakes up in a mental institution. As she pieces her memory back together, she realizes she's confessed to murdering Tori Beaugrand, the most perfect girl at school. But the case is a mystery. Tori's body has not been found, and Alison can't explain what happened. One minute she was fighting with Tori. The next moment Tori disintegrated--into nothing.

But that's impossible. No one is capable of making someone vanish. Right? Alison must be losing her mind--like her mother always feared she would.

For years Alison has tried to keep her weird sensory abilities a secret. No one ever understood--until a mysterious visiting scientist takes an interest in Alison's case. Suddenly, Alison discovers that the world is wrong about her--and that she's capable of far more than anyone else would believe.

Review:

When I started reading this book I didn't have much info about it. I've had it in my TBR pile for quite a long time so I said, 'Why not?' Hell, I didn't even know exactly what genre it was at first and just when I thought I had it all figured out the author made a complete change in the plot. 
A girl disintegrates, I thought it was a big clue as to how coocoo Alison was and, like everyone else, I didn't think there was much to it. It was a great way to teach me not to judge a book by its cover or synopsis for that matter. But I'm super glad I finally picked it up. You know why? Because, as it turns out, the less you know about it the greater the surprise in the end when you reach that last page and end up with your mouth open and eyes wide open.

Ms. Anderson's writing and plot were incredibly amazing. As I read, I had all this questions of whether or not Alison was actually sane. Alison's story was really heart-wrenching and insanely good, quite a thrilling ride. 

Ultraviolet is the story of a confused teenage girl that has no idea what's going on with her weird 'ability' to see music and taste colors, which led her to doubt her sanity. I have to be honest, I questioned things a lot, too. Just when I was beginning to think this was a normal YA book, BAM, there goes everything I believed in with the twist and turn that the book took. Ms. Anderson was brilliant and sneaky. She eased you into Alison's broken world, got you somewhat comfortable in the story as you expected certain twists to happen, and then ripped the world from right under your feet when you least expected it. 

When the truth came out, I still didn't believe it. Seriously, Alison's story is incredibly confusing yet believable when you think about it. The author really did a great job in writing this story with 3D characters that were actually sort of hard to read. Because, really, who likes predictable characters or a story line you see coming a mile away? Although, this might come from the fact that the story was told from Alison's point of view, whom we come to realize was just as clueless about most of the people she thought she knew, which is exciting. Anderson's choice to write from first person's POV is really what made the whole story work so flawlessly. Right away, from the very first page, the reader is thrown into the same unknown situation and walks with her trying to remember, and resolve, the mystery surrounding Tori's death. 

As original and unpredictable as this story is, it's bound to keep readers on their toes from beginning to end trying to guess the mystery of Tori's death. A great start for a series.

Now I heard there will be a sequel, but with the bar set so high, it makes me wonder whether or not I'll be satisfied with the sequel. Hopefully, it'll be just as awesome, or even better if that's possible.

Rating:

5.0

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