The government uses fear to control you. Show no fear, and they will destroy you. Still raw from the death of his parents, eighteen-year-old Tommy Bailey isn't sure if he wants to live--until he meets complex and intriguing Careen. He comes to her aid during a terrorist gas-strike, sharing his last dose of the government-mandated antidote that, they've been told, is key to their survival. Without enough antidote, the teens expect to die. Instead, they discover the terrorist attack wasn't real, and the antidote was never meant to protect them--it was meant to dull their thoughts and make them easy to control. As he and Careen search for the truth, Tommy learns that his parents were operatives in an underground resistance group that's fighting to overthrow the government. The Resistance expects him to continue his parents' crusade. The government's hunting him down. Which side will get to him first?
Once upon a time, Tracy Lawson was a little girl with a big imagination who wanted to write books when she grew up. Her interests in dance, theater, and other forms of make-believe led to a career in the performing arts, where “work” means she gets to do things like tap dance, choreograph musicals, and weave stories.
I think our characters want meaty roles. They're much more interesting when they're flawed, even if it makes them suffer on their way to growth, enlightenment, and redemption.
Careen told me herself (yes, I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested) that she needed the opportunity to be a jerk and hurt people so she would learn from the consequences of her bad behavior.
At this point in the story, she doesn't believe she's the right person to fill the void in Tommy's life.
Book Excerpt
Counteract: A YA Dystopian Thriller
She rolled over and tugged at the blanket, trying hard not to think about kissing him. Of course I feel a connection. We thought we were going to die, and so we have a bond of sorts. And there was definitely something about him, even if it was a fragile kind of something. She was used to hiding her heart, but Tommy wanted, needed, someone to care about. She couldn’t bear to cause him more hurt than she already had.
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