Review: Nemesis by Brendan Reichs

Title: Nemesis 

Author: Brendan Reichs
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date:  March 21st, 2017

Pages: 443
Genre: YA Sci-Fiction Fantasy Thriller

Series:  Project Nemesis #1
Source:  Audio

 

He killed me. He killed me not. He killed me.

It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown—alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.

For the planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.

For some reason, I didn't pay any attention to this book all last year. I don't think I ever got past the cover. It just didn't call for me. When I saw that the second book was coming out, it looked interesting to me. So I had to get the first book and read it. Makes sense I guess. So I read this book and really really enjoyed it. This book was like no other I have read and for sure interesting. 

Min is murdered every 2 years on her birthday since her 6th birthday. Every morning the man in a suit with the silver shades comes and kills her. Each time in a different way. There is no escaping. Then she wakes up int he same place every time. In a clearing, all alone, her clothes and body like nothing ever happened.

Noah had the same dream every two years on his birthday. A dream of being killed. Every time by the same man. Even stranger, he can't remember leaving his bed but he always wakes up in the same cave. 

These two stories, these two teens, thrown together by a threatening end of the world scenario happening and they find a past that is intertwined, a secret government project, and a questionable future. 

This will be a short review, I think, it is hard to really review this book without giving anything away. Everything is a mystery in this book and it was fun to watch it all unravel. To be honest I was clueless until the very end when everything is revealed. It was something I would have never figured out. It was just a fun journey to watch it come to light. 

The characters were a fun part of this ride.I really enjoyed them all, even when some really pissed me off. One in particular. But I won't get into that. 

Min is a super great character. She is so smart and so determined. She is loyal to her best friend. She spends half her childhood trying to deal with the murders, not knowing what was going on and if they were ever real. She doesn't know if she is crazy. But she carries on and when she gets a spark of the possible truth she fires right up and hunts it down. 

Min's best friend, forgive me I am horrible at names and can't think of it at this moment, is pretty awesome too. I love the duo together. They are like a crime-fighting double trouble kind of pair and so great together. They are funny, they banter, and they work together to figure things out. He never questions her sanity. He never questions her. He just goes with it until they find the truth. 

Noah is a love/hate kind of character. He gets pretty down sometimes and a little angsty. Of course, dreams of murder and sleepwalking and the thousand different wives of his absentee father I guess can do that to a kid. He is conflicted and angry and sometimes that causes some issues with choices. I wanted more from him because I think for the most part he was sweet just troubled. I guess we will see. 

There is a bit of romance in the book but very little and what there was, was nice but really I didn't pay much attention to it. I was really into the story and the conspiracy and the murders and the nightmares and the mystery and the truth and the ending. Oh well, the ending, yup ended on a cliffhanger. So yes I need the next book now. 

Pretty exciting read. 

Brendan Reichs was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 2000 and The George Washington University School of Law in 2006. After three long years working as a litigation attorney, he abandoned the trade to write full time. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, son, daughter, and a herd of animals that tear up everything.