Human.4

by Mike A. Lancaster

Overview

Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same.
Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone's behaving oddly. It's as if Kyle doesn't exit. Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister?
Narrated on a set of found cassette tapes at an unspecified point in the future, Human.4 is an absolutely chilling look at technology gone too far.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606842416
Publisher:	Carolrhoda Lab
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	221
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Mike A. Lancaster lives in Cambridge, England with his wife and children.  Human.4 is his first novel for children.

Editorial Reviews

"From the first page, Lancaster has got you: 'Warning: This data storage unit, or "book," has been designed to reprogram the human brain.' Then Lancaster himself steps in as 'editor,' introducing the audio tape transcripts that are to follow in which 15-year-old Kyle Straker relates a story of great historic value to the beings of the future. What kind of beings? Well, that's the story. Kyle was living a regular life until he was one of four volunteers to undergo hypnosis during a small-town talent show. By chance, while the four were under, the rest of humanity received an upgrade. When the four wake up, the entire town is frozen in place. Soon after, the townspeople come back to life, but they can no longer see or hear Kyle and his three companions, who have become little more than ghosts, fragments of old code that the new programs simply ignore. Wringing his Stephen King–like premise for all it is worth, Lancaster fashions a fast-paced, upsetting little thriller punctuated by ominous editorial notes that translate Kyle's details for the futuristic audience (example: explaining what 'lips' were). The characters are somewhat thin, but few plots race along with this kind of speed and purpose." —starred, Booklist

From the Publisher