Chasers

Chasers
by James Phelan
New York: Kensington Publishing Corp.
2010
213 pages



Chasers is the first in the dystopian Alone trilogy by Australian author, James Phelan. His Australian protagonist, Jesse, is 16 years old and visiting New York City for the first time in order to attend a United Nations camp for Youth Ambassadors. He and his new acquaintances--Dave, Mini, and Anna--are travelling on the subway with other camp attendees to see the sights, when disaster strikes. Jesse sees a fireball coming down the tunnel and hears the explosion before the train derails and tips over. Darkness envelops the teens and when they find their flashlights, they discover many people are dead or just not there anymore.

When the four make it out of the subway tunnels, the scene before them is devastating. Hundreds of cars had crashed into each other, buildings are demolished, and there are craters instead of streets. Some people are milling around, but they are not behaving normally. Jesse watches as they drink from puddles, but then he notices a few people hunched over the dead bodies, drinking their blood. What has happened on their subway ride? The teens have to run fast to get away from these "chasers" who will track people and attack them.

The teens hide on the
70th floorof
the GE Building,
Rockefeller Plaza, NYC

Jesse and the others find refuge in one of the only skyscrapers remaining intact, the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Fortunately, they find plenty to eat in the Rainbow Room restaurant, and there is an observation deck near the top of the building. Being 70 floors above the destroyed city gives them a sense of safety and also a view of the devastation. Not much is left and the few people they see seem to be the strangely-behaved "chasers" who attack those who are only drinking water or the few "normal" people.

The rest of the story outlines the friends' exploration of the building, their discussions about what could have happened to cause the massive ruination of the large city, and their tentative excursions into the outside world looking for a way out.

I'm not going to give away the surprise at the end. I'll just say that I was not expecting what I learned, and certain things mentioned along the way then made sense. This book, however, clearly is only the beginning of the story. Why are the car batteries drained making the cars unusable? Why are buildings collapsed and collapsing, even two weeks after the initial event? And what happened to all of the people? Most of the people are just gone, and those that remain seem to have a strange sickness that forces them to drink all the time. Are there any other survivors, and how will these kids find them?

The Rainbow Room where Jesse, Dave,
Anna, and Mini go after the big disaster.

This was a well-written story for teens, ages 12 and up, and typical of the dystopian genre. I felt connected to the main character, Jesse, who is the main focus of the story. The other characters seem less developed, but that is to be expected if they are only supporting characters. The violence of the Chasers is not described in gory detail, but we still can feel the horror of the situation in which these teens now find themselves.

I am excited to get to the next book in the series.