THE Q - Amy Tintera

 Lennon Pierce is the son of U.S. Presidential candidate, Senator Camden Pierce. He's a bit of a wild child (he's been arrested a few times for things like drag racing) and doesn't seem to take life too seriously.  That's about to change when he's kidnapped, put on a place and strapped into a parachute and then pushed out. He's fortunate enough to think through his actions and pull the ripcord to engage the parachute. He is not so fortunate, however, in his place of landing.  The intention of the kidnappers is to send Lennon into The Q - once the state of Texas, now a walled off quarantine zone from the last pandemic. 

There's only one gate in or out of The Q and no one is allowed to come out because they carry the virus, and no one goes in willingly.  Lennon's been given an antidote which will protect him for 48 hours - meaning he has two days to get from the southern-most point in The Q to the gate at the northern point.  The territory inside The Q is divided into sections with each area controlled by rival families and no one gets along with anyone else.  Lennon will have to navigate through the territories - and he knows no one.

Enter Maisie Rojas - the seventeen-year-old daughter of one of the family leaders who has been groomed to take over her family territory. Maisie finds an instant attraction to Lennon and is willing to help him navigate The Q to get to the gate.  But finding an ally is only the first step - they still have to get past the other families!

This was a very fast-paced story. A constant 'out of the frying pan into the fire' adventure. I find it a little difficult to pinpoint the genre.  The 'Q' setting has a post-apocalyptic, scifi feel, but it's window dressing to the 'get from point A to point B' story.  This could be The Great Race or a lost tourist in Tanzania.  The scifi-ness was almost incidental.

This reads more like an adventurous romance.  The romance is laid on pretty thick and there was never a doubt in my mind how this was going to end.  The journey isn't so much will Lennon make it to the gate in time, it's 'what new obstacle will be thrown in his way?' and 'will he and Maisie admit they like one another?'.

I did not remember that Maisie was only 17, but saw that note as I was going back to review some incidents in preparation of writing this review.  This surprised me.  I really thought that both she and Lennon were mid-20's given how they acted and reacted. I can't help but wonder if the only reason to put in print that she's a teenager was so that this would be classified as a YA novel (I see that author Amy Tintera is known to be a YA author).  I was recently listening to a podcast in which the hosts talked about how so many books feature 'teens' simply to make the book a YA book even though the characters act five to ten years older. I hadn't encountered this until now, but I also haven't read a lot of YA recently.

Overall, I enjoyed this, it moved along quickly and was an easy read, though I did find it a bit 'simple' and highly predictable.  A target audience might be YA reluctant readers?

Looking for a good book? The Q by Amy Tintera is a Young Adult, action/romance with a slightly scifi setting. It's a good read for teens at the beach.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

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The Q

author: Amy Tintera

publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9780593486177

hardcover, 352 pages