Trance - Softcover

Linda Gerber recently returned to life in the Midwest after four years in Japan, where she served as the Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She currently lives and writes in Dublin, OH, blissfully ignoring her husband, four kids, and one very naughty puppy.

All her life, Ashlyn has slipped into trances where she sees danger before it happens. Her visions are vague and accompanied by the automatic writing of numbers. Though her sister Kyra shares the trances, they’ve never been able to prevent the danger, even when it concerned their mother’s fatal car accident. Eight weeks later, Ashlyn is back working at the mall and living with her distant, workaholic father. She has had no trances and no contact with Kyra, who left home without saying good-bye. When she has another trance—possibly involving Jake, the cute boy who plays the mall piano—she is determined this time to stop it. This is a well-written but undemanding addition to the pack of paranormal thrillers. Though discovering the workings of the trances using numerology provides the book’s thrust, the paranormal takes a backseat to the character drama. Ashlyn’s relationships, especially her sweet romance with Jake and her strained interactions with her father, grow credibly as she sheds her survivor’s guilt. Some melodramatic, convenient plotting detracts from the happy ending, which sets up a potential sequel. Grades 7-10. --Krista Hutley