(Review) Code
THE third book in the young adult Virals series by Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan tells how The Virals, a group of teenagers who gained special powers after being infected with an experimental canine virus, have to face off against an evil opponent.
Tory Brennan, the great-niece of Temperance Brennan (the main character of Kathy Reichs’ adult series Bones which has since been made into a TV series), lives on a fairly remote island near Charleston, South Carolina, with her scientist father after the accidental death of her mother.
Tory has a close group of friends who live on the island, too. In the first book (Virals, 2010), they were all infected with a mutant type of canine parvovirus that has given them canine-like abilities. Tory’s abilities seem the strongest in some ways, perhaps as she is the alpha of their friendly wolf-ish group. She can, in moments of stress, cause them to link telepathicly.
In this book, the ‘pack’ is innocently lured into a game when one of them gets interested in geocaching. It’s a treasure hunting game in which you use a GPS to find items left by others.
The item they find leads into a deadly game from which they cannot escape without risking harm to those they love. Along the way, they are shot at, discover a murder victim, and almost get poisoned.
Tory also has to deal with the upcoming debutante ball along with the other young ladies of Charleston.
The action teeters between Loggerhead Island, where Tory’s father works at a research institute, the prep school the group attends on scholarship, and Charleston proper.
Meanwhile, a hurricane enters into the mix just when Tory and the gang think they’ve foiled the bad guy.
The Brennans also take the changes to the pack from the supervirus a bit further.
The Code is a crossover between middle grade fiction and young adult and will appeal to a wide range of ages.
There is also much scientific information that is revealed as the group struggles to figure out the clues that will help them stop the murder of innocent people.