Book Review: Adaptation

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

I was hoping for an edge-of-your-seat thriller with this one, but that wasn't what I got. Although I enjoyed the first few chapters and the last 25% (give or take), everything in between just wasn't as engaging.

Reese and her crush, David, are with their debate coach at the airport when flocks of birds fly into airplanes across the country, blowing up engines and causing planes to drop out of the sky, which obviously generates a massive amount of fatalities. It’s not just happening in the United States, though—the world is in panic. Reese, David, and their debate coach decide to drive back to California, not wanting to risk their lives. After a terrifying ordeal at a gas station, Reese and David burn rubber and head toward Cali. But when a bird flies toward the windshield at night, Reese loses control and wrecks, waking up a month later in a top-secret medical facility.

This where I thought the story would take off, but that unfortunately wasn't the case until the last quarter of the book. There were a few surprising twists and turns toward the end, and then you’re left wondering what happens in the sequel.

Overall, if you enjoy science fiction novels, conspiracy theories, bi-sexual love triangles, and aliens, then I’d recommend picking up this book.

**ARC courtesy of publisher via NetGalley