Samantha Mishra, a teenage Indian American, and the others of her exclusive boarding school’s  fencing team are flying across the Pacific for a meet when their plane crashes, leaving them on a deserted island.  Their battle to survive and perhaps to orchestrate a rescue is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, as some want to lead and others have to decide whom to follow. Some are killed, some are murdered, some commit suicide.  They are reduced to their basic and true personalities. Many topics are explored including mental illness, race, wealth and financial need, and survival of the fittest. Sam’s best friend, Mel, seems to have an incredible wealth of knowledge about a myriad of survival tactics, which this reviewer finds a bit difficult to believe. Ultimately, Sam has to decide with whom she will side as the group fractures and divides into two factions who disagree about what is the most important issue with which to deal. To top things off, they find they are not alone as someone is leaving threatening messages in the sand. The cliffhanger of an ending begs for a sequel and leaves the reader a bit unsatisfied. This would be a good modern-day offering for teenagers to read, a contemporary  LOTF, as it were. Perhaps a comparison of the two would be a good task.

Reviewed by Carla McAllister, New Gloucester Public Library, New Gloucester