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.
This week's polar vortex kept people apart. Schools were closed, events postponed, and flights canceled all over the country.
In Counteract, government policies designed to protect the people are part of the reason Tommy feels isolated, and the death of his parents left him lonely and bewildered by the rapid changes in his life.
When he meets Careen, one of the first things he recognizes in her is her loneliness.
Book Excerpt
Counteract: A YA Dystopian Thriller
He knew it was partly his fault that he was alone. Art and Beth Severson, his parents’ best friends, had encouraged him to stay with them after he was discharged from the hospital, and he’d taken them up on the offer for a couple weeks. They’d infiltrated his drug-induced fog with good intentions and regular mealtimes. Beth hovered over him with a cheery efficiency that he found annoying, and Art asked so many questions about the accident that Tommy had finally gotten tired of saying “I don’t remember” and clammed up. Every evening Art watched the SportsCam channel on TV, which only served to remind Tommy, the former athlete, of his new physical limitations. Maybe Art had felt obligated to be there for his dead best friend’s son, but Tommy wished he didn’t. He’d found the whole situation intolerable, and as soon as he was able to get around on his own, he’d gone home.
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