At the core of its plot, Erased by Jennifer Rush features psychological and genetic engineering that erases important memories and plants false ones in the void. Four of the experimental group teens manage to escape the Branch lab. Anna, unable to let go of the past, is on the run with loyal and noble Sam, the irritatingly adorable Cas, and Nick, “a shark masquerading as a panther” (19). The Branch has been using biotechnology to turn teens into weaponry, and the four have received genetic alterations and programming to turn them into a team of assassins, with Anna as the leader.
Hunted by the Branch, the four use all their energies to evade and hide, leaving no opportunity to rebuild the life stolen from them, to find the missing pieces, and to solve the important mysteries. As the Altered drug wears off, the fugitives experience debilitating flashbacks, troubling them with a collage of mental confetti—the important details just out of reach. Although drawing seems like the last thing Anna should be wasting her time on, the creative energy helps anchor her in the real world—gives her something familiar and normal. Her memories gradually emerge in these sketches, many of which Anna suppresses because of the wounds they open. Yet, the secret of the past is found in her journal of sketches as well as wrapped up in the memory of paper cranes and the nickname Bird.
Preoccupied by vigilance and surveillance, Anna yearns for a normal life—being able to go to bed, “not worrying about being ambushed in the middle of the night. And [waking] up looking refreshed, a whole day spread out before [her]. A day of possibilities” (160-161). Instead, she lives amidst constant fear, betrayal, and danger—unsure whether she can even trust her closest companions.
Rush’s book is a sequel to Altered, and although I hadn’t read it, this second- in-the-series thriller kept my attention as the secrets unraveled and as the teens fight for their survival.
- Posted by Donna