In Michael Grant’s Gone everyone aged over 15 has inexplicably disappeared. The story which seeks to find out why is fast-paced, exciting and leaves readers desperate for answers, writes Elizabeth de Jager.

Right from the get-go in Michael Grant’s Gone you are caught up in the nightmare which breaks over the kids from Perdido Beach. One moment the teacher was there, yakking on about something and the next thing, he’s gone. So are all the other teachers and all the kids aged fifteen and above.

Initially everyone thinks it’s a bit of a joke, maybe it’s a very belated April Fool’s but then the laughter turns into panic and hysteria when the kids realise that their parents aren’t at home or at work, that all adults have completely and utterly disappeared – leaving them on their own, to fend for themselves.

At the middle of this living nightmare we find Sam, his surfer buddy, Quinn and fellow school-mate Astrid who are doing their best to keep it together. Sam is convinced he somehow has something to do with it. Quinn just wants for things to go back to normal, he wants to see his mom and hit the surf, while Astrid is keen to find her baby brother, Little Pete who is autistic and could be in great danger and not even realise.

Sam is the reluctant hero – he is scared something he did, something he can unexpectedly do, something almost supernatural, is the cause of the adults disappearance. He tries to keep his thoughts ordered and think things through logically, step by step - demonstrated in the way he organises help for a burning building. This episode sees him venture into the building to help save a toddler – who in turn turns out to be a revelation. The toddler girl, like Sam is different. He is almost killed when the little girl turns on him, with fire spewing forth from her hands. Sam has no recourse and uses his own ability, to save himself and knock the little girl unconscious so he can help her and carry her out of the burning building.

Everyone thinks Sam is the hero, they praise him, look to him for further instructions, ask him for direction. It is an awful time and all Sam wants is to find somewhere quiet to think, to figure it all out, to make sense of it.

The entire novel is written with immediacy which helps keep the pace going at tremendous speed.

Further tensions is added via accounts about those nearing their fifteenth birthday. No one is quite sure what’s going to happen when they turn fifteen: do they get to stay in Perdido or do they disappear, like the adults? Further questions are constantly raised. Does the nuclear power plant down the road have anything to do with the odd visible sphere cutting off Perdido Beach (some call it Fallout Alley) from the rest of the world? Which, even more strangely, appeared at the same time all the adults vanished.

Is the rest of the world still there? How many kids at Perdido can defend themselves with odd new powers? Why do they have odd new powers? Animals are learning to talk, mutating faster than years of evolution can account for. The scenario generates thousands of questions and by the end of the novel some are answered, but the majority aren’t – creating a perfect segue for the next upcoming novel.

The characters are well defined and carefully made different from one another. Caine, the main antagonist is a nasty piece of work and tremendously charismatic. He has with him a group of kids from their exclusive private school on the hill, and he rolls into Perdido Beach and takes over as mayor and set sup an infrastructure to help everyone. Or so it seems, at first.

This sort of behaviour creates a lot of conflict, both physically and emotionally. The action is well paced and doesn’t become too individual character focused. Instead it sticks with the wider issue at hand – how to survive in a town, physically cut off from the rest of the world where the inhabitants are learning to look after themselves in a way they have never had to before.

Gone is a good, strong, vivid read which I would recommend for older, more confident children who do not suffer to greatly from nightmares. I also think adults who read speculative fiction would enjoy this thoroughly – although the book is aimed at young adults and focuses on young adults in a dire situation, it is a very cleverly-written book, highlighting society and the structure it imposes on us every day and what happens if that structure is removed.

Gone by Michael Grant is out now.