The Prisoner Of Cell 25
By: Richard Paul Evans
If you're like me you don't like reading, but I can honestly say I enjoyed reading this book. If you like action and realness that a lot of authors leave out of actions books such as this one, then this book is definitely for you.
Michael Vey is about to celebrate his fifteenth birthday. He lives with his mother and has a very special power, the ability to shock. Michael's mother wants him to keep his power secret and Michael has done so with the exception of telling his best friend, Ostin , who lives next door. But one day Michael was being beat up by three bullies. The three caused Michael to be in detention just a few days earlier and he's angry when they attack him again. He shocks them but tells his mother he doesn't believe anyone will believe them, even if they do tell on him. However, another student sees what happens - a cheerleader named Taylor Ridley. It turns out Taylor has similar powers and they are soon comparing notes. They form a club and including Ostin.
Taylor is adopted. She starts researching her birth with Ostin's help. They discover that she and Michael were born in the same hospital within days of each other but that the hospital records are missing. They also find that a medical company named Elegen had been testing a new magnetic imaging technology at that hospital at the time Taylor and Michael were born. Then Taylor and Michael are invited to attend an elite school, the Elgen Academy. Taylor and Mrs. Vey are kidnapped and Michael believes they are being held in the Academy. He plans to go looking for them and Ostin insists on going along.
The Elgen Academy is actually just a ruse created by the designer of the magnetic imaging technology, Dr. C. James Hatch. There are thirteen surviving children with powers similar to those of Taylor and Michael. Hatch uses the children for elaborate blackmail schemes. At the time of Taylor's arrival, he has just had one of the children crash two planes, prompting several airlines to pay millions of dollars for an assurance it won't happen again.
Some of the children have been with Hatch since they were very young. Taylor discovers that she has a twin sister, Tara, who has lived at the academy since she was six and that Hatch became her guardian after the death of Tara's adoptive parents. Taylor immediately suspects that Hatch killed Tara's parents in order to gain control of Tara. Tara will not consider that possibility.
Michael is able to free Taylor but Hatch leaves the compound before Michael can get to him. Michael learns that his mother is being held at another of the Elgen compounds and pledges to find her. Ostin, Taylor, insist that they'll go with Michael. They are joined by several of the Glows who have escaped Hatch's control.
I can honestly say over all I highly enjoyed this book because the author didn't really beat around the bush like many authors do. I also enjoyed how the characters embraced there powers unlike many other characters with powers who do like them and even go as far to call them a curse.
About Author
Richard Paul Evans (born October 11, 1962 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American author, best known for writing The Christmas Box and, more recently, the Michael Vey series.
Evans graduated from Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City. He graduated with a B.A. degree from the University of Utah in 1984. While working as an advertising executive he wrote a Christmas story for his children. Unable to find a publisher or an agent, he self-published the work in 1993 as a paperback novella entitled The Christmas Box. He distributed it to book stores in his community.
The book became a local bestseller, prompting Evans to publish the book nationally. The next year The Christmas Box hit #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, inciting an auction for the publishing rights among the world's top publishing houses. Evans signed a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, who paid Evans $4.2 million in an advance. Released in hardcover in 1995, The Christmas Box became the first book to simultaneously reach the number-one position on the New York Times bestseller list for both paperback and hardcover editions.
GenreScience Fiction, Young Adult
PublishedSimon Pulse, Mercury Ink
Media typePaperback
Pages326
Followed byMichael Vey: Rise of the Elgen