Reichs and Reichs are surely the best set of 'adult authors' who have tackled young adult writing. The epilogue surely opened the door to something high-impact in the final novel, which will keep series fans from waiting too long to pick up a copy and see how it all ties up. The social and geographic isolation from many others is also greatly addressed in the novel, helping to accentuate some of the true individual aspects of each Viral. While struggling with their powers, the Virals must also come to terms with the long-term effects of their powers and how this differentiates them from other children their age. The exploration of Flares as an out of control phenomenon was of great interest and also had some interesting parallels to adolescent addictions, if the reader looks closely enough.

With the foreknowledge that the series would come to end in the next novel, I was interested to see where the two Reichses might take this story. Can Tory keep the gang together and solve the case before the kidnapper strikes again? How will the authorities take to being beaten to the punch? Reichs and Reichs keep fans on the edge of their seats, with epilogue no one saw coming.

As the kidnapping case heats up, the Flares get more out of control, possibly endangering the gang and their secret. The Flares seem to have taken a life all their own, forcing the Virals to struggle to keep things under wraps. All the while, details surrounding the experiments that eventually infected Tory, Ben, Hi, and Shelton (as well as canine Coop) fall into their laps, but there's a secret set of additional documents with far more devastating information.

What they find will create more questions than answers. When twins go missing from Tory's school, the Virals take it upon themselves to do some of their own sleuthing. As the Virals return for another adventure, Tory and the gang find themselves in the middle of the trial to put away the infamous Gamemaster (from Book 3).

Kathy reichs virals series in order