"The Scorch Trials" by James Dashner

361 pages

In "The Maze Runner," Thomas found himself trapped with a group of other teen guys on a spot of land in the Maze, a dangerous labyrinth from which they couldn't escape. Then a girl, Teresa, arrived, triggering the End. Several kids lost their lives, but the survivors were saved. Or so they thought. Now, in this second book in the series, they learn that the struggle has only just begun. Their safety is wrenched away as they're almost immediately forced to undergo another task: crossing the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. As if that wasn't enough, WICKED (the world government that formed after solar flares caused ecological havoc on Earth) has put plenty of obstacles in the boys' way; Teresa has disappeared and Thomas can't reach her telepathically; and a virus called the Flare has turned nearly everyone in the Scorch into a violent, flesh-eating monster. And, oh yeah, Thomas and the rest of the boys are told that they too have been infected with the Flare. That means they'll turn into zombies themselves unless they survive the Scorch Trial, in which case WICKED will give them the exclusive cure.

Like "The Maze Runner," this story had me hooked from beginning to end. The action starts right away and there's no break until the conclusion. I didn't like some of the twists that this story took, though. Some of the things that happen are so out-there that it seemed like the author was just throwing in every weird idea he could think of for the sake of making the book stand out. The Teresa storyline, especially, didn't make sense to me. However, there's one more book so I'm going to reserve judgment until Dashner has had a chance to explain everything. And I have to admit that all of the craziness makes me anxious for the next book because I want to see how he's going to bring it all together (if he can, that is).