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A review by thechronicknitter
Any Second by Kevin Emerson
4.0
Elián Martinez was 10 years old when he was kidnapped walking home from school. Three years later at 14 he shows up at a local Seattle mall with a bomb strapped to his abdomen.
Maya Abrams is at the mall with her dad who is getting a new photo for his driver’s license to reflect the “new him.” She notices a boy in a wolf mask standing in the middle of the waiting room for the Department of Licensing. The boy seems lost, alone, sad so she goes up to him, and that is when she notices the detonator in his hand with a wire snaking into the arm of his sweatshirt, the bulges around his abdomen. She grabs his hand, putting her thumb over his so he cannot release the detonator and set off the bomb. Maya warns the people around them that he has a bomb. They go through the trauma together and then never see each other for over a year. Both suffering from PTSD getting therapy, and trying to put their lives back together. After that year, they both end up at Elliot High School, Maya as an 18 year old senior and now, and Eli Rivera as a 15 year old freshman. It is key for Eli’s true identity to remain a secret. Eli has difficulty doing regular tasks, like ordering lunch and eating the food off of a tray, nevermind socializing. One day he gets a note from his locker asking if he wants to hang out and saying that they know who he really is. A part of him feels like he should tell someone but the note seems friendly and it would be nice to have a friend that he doesn’t have to lie to about the last 5 years. It turns out to be the only other kid at his lunch table, named Graham who is a nerd and who gets bullied by some of the more popular kids. Graham seems unstable, always talking about being lonely, about not being understood, and more frighteningly killing everyone else in the world except him and Eli because that would make everything better. Near the end of the book Eli starts to realize that Graham is serious and he has to decide whether to remain silent or let someone know so they can stop and help Graham. While Maya and Eli are not supposed to speak to one another so as to not to blow Eli’s cover, they find that they are drawn together. They seem to understand one another and can help each other through their trauma better than anyone else. Even though Maya’s trauma started on that day and Eli’s began years before. As the anniversary of the thwarted bombing looms closer both Maya and Eli live in fear of Gabriel’s return and his vengeance, but perhaps he is no longer their biggest problem? Eli is of Latin American heritage, one biracial Asian/white minor character, and everyone else is assumed white. Emerson has obviously done tons of research for this novel. His PTSD and anxiety depictions ring true allowing the reader to really get a feeling for what is going on in Maya and Eli’s heads. It is a thriller that keeps the reader interested and reading late into the night. Emerson does an amazing job of reminding readers that a house or person can look normal from the outside, but you never know what’s going on beneath the surface unless you explore. As readers, we see what is off about Graham and the various warning signs that something isn’t quite right which will hopefully help kids speak out when there is someone in their school who desperately needs help before they do something that cannot be taken back.
This is a challenging book where readers see the moment(s) that “broke” the main characters and then have as watch as they struggle over and over, but succeed, in slowly building themselves back up again. A powerful read that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Maya Abrams is at the mall with her dad who is getting a new photo for his driver’s license to reflect the “new him.” She notices a boy in a wolf mask standing in the middle of the waiting room for the Department of Licensing. The boy seems lost, alone, sad so she goes up to him, and that is when she notices the detonator in his hand with a wire snaking into the arm of his sweatshirt, the bulges around his abdomen. She grabs his hand, putting her thumb over his so he cannot release the detonator and set off the bomb. Maya warns the people around them that he has a bomb. They go through the trauma together and then never see each other for over a year. Both suffering from PTSD getting therapy, and trying to put their lives back together. After that year, they both end up at Elliot High School, Maya as an 18 year old senior and now, and Eli Rivera as a 15 year old freshman. It is key for Eli’s true identity to remain a secret. Eli has difficulty doing regular tasks, like ordering lunch and eating the food off of a tray, nevermind socializing. One day he gets a note from his locker asking if he wants to hang out and saying that they know who he really is. A part of him feels like he should tell someone but the note seems friendly and it would be nice to have a friend that he doesn’t have to lie to about the last 5 years. It turns out to be the only other kid at his lunch table, named Graham who is a nerd and who gets bullied by some of the more popular kids. Graham seems unstable, always talking about being lonely, about not being understood, and more frighteningly killing everyone else in the world except him and Eli because that would make everything better. Near the end of the book Eli starts to realize that Graham is serious and he has to decide whether to remain silent or let someone know so they can stop and help Graham. While Maya and Eli are not supposed to speak to one another so as to not to blow Eli’s cover, they find that they are drawn together. They seem to understand one another and can help each other through their trauma better than anyone else. Even though Maya’s trauma started on that day and Eli’s began years before. As the anniversary of the thwarted bombing looms closer both Maya and Eli live in fear of Gabriel’s return and his vengeance, but perhaps he is no longer their biggest problem? Eli is of Latin American heritage, one biracial Asian/white minor character, and everyone else is assumed white. Emerson has obviously done tons of research for this novel. His PTSD and anxiety depictions ring true allowing the reader to really get a feeling for what is going on in Maya and Eli’s heads. It is a thriller that keeps the reader interested and reading late into the night. Emerson does an amazing job of reminding readers that a house or person can look normal from the outside, but you never know what’s going on beneath the surface unless you explore. As readers, we see what is off about Graham and the various warning signs that something isn’t quite right which will hopefully help kids speak out when there is someone in their school who desperately needs help before they do something that cannot be taken back.
This is a challenging book where readers see the moment(s) that “broke” the main characters and then have as watch as they struggle over and over, but succeed, in slowly building themselves back up again. A powerful read that keeps you on the edge of your seat.