Masterminds
Book #1
by Gordon Korman

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi adventure

Serenity, New Mexico may seem like the perfect small town, but five teenagers are about to discover that there’s a lot more going on, both in their town and in the rest of the world, than they ever knew. 

This is the kind of book that is difficult to explain the premise of without giving too much away. There are five main teenagers, and each of them has their turn as the POV character. That is a lot of different perspectives to keep straight, and while so often that many doesn’t work out, Korman did a good job of keeping them all different. In fact, the story is in 1st-person from each of these perspectives, yet their voices are all unique enough to keep me from being confused (for the most part). I really enjoyed the way everything played out, though, and how the five teens got started on their investigation. While the main catalyst for the teens’ investigations comes from the main character, Eli, having bizarre symptoms when he rode his bike out of town with his friend, the other teens basically start on their own questioning and digging in other ways. When their individual quests come together, the story really picks up. The synopsis compares the book to Stranger Things, and unlike the last book I read that had that comparison, this one works.

I didn’t realize this was the start of the series until I got to the end, and while it’s not an outright cliffhanger, it definitely left me wanting more! My 13-year-old daughter read this book before me, and she and I are both excited to continue the series. We also both recommend this book for teens and even adults who enjoy suspenseful teen books.

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