ULTRAVIOLET


By: Anderson, R.J.

Grades 9-12. Alison wakes up in a mental institution with no memory of the past two weeks. The bits of time she pieces together point to a violent episode that caused the death of her classmate Tori. As she slowly remembers what happened, Alison worries that she really is crazy because she can only remember Tori disintegrating into nothing. An undiagnosed synesthete, Alison has always seen numbers as colors, tasted lies, and seen colors no one else can. While Alison is in the hospital, Dr. Faraday, a neuropsychologist studying synesthesia, finally puts a name to and an explanation of how Alison’s brain is wired. This is a unique insight into the life of someone with synesthesia, and the look at life inside a mental hospital is a natural grabber for teens. The story makes a dramatic shift in the final third of the book when the true origins of Faraday and what really happened to Tori are revealed. It is a genre-shifting turn that will leave some disappointed but will surely invigorate others. TitleWave