The Lost Causes

by Jessica Koosed Etting, Alyssa Embree Schwartz, Alyssa Schwartz

Overview

They're the kids that no one knows — or no one wants to know. The rich depressive, the OCD chick, the hypochondriac, the drug abuser, the athlete with anger management issues. All chosen for intensive group therapy because they're out of other options. They're lost causes, the therapist tells them. She promises this support group will help them heal. There's only one problem. She's not a therapist. And that water she offers? It contains a dangerous serum that gives each of the kids a psychic power. Suddenly, they can think clearly, speak to ghosts, see the past, even move objects with their mind. Their earlier problems have vanished, but their new freedom comes with a price. Sabrina, Gabby, Z, Justin and Andrew are to help the FBI solve the grisly murder that has rocked their small town. Their new powers will help them uncover clues and follow leads that have eluded the authorities. Their outsider status gives them the perfect cover. But the same traits that make them top investigators also make them vulnerable. As they close in on the murderer, they expose a much larger conspiracy that puts them directly in harm's way and makes them wonder who — if anyone — they can trust.

Compulsively readable, The Lost Causes sweeps readers into the place where science fiction and mystery meet, ending on a drop-dead cliffhanger that will leave them longing for more. Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz have written extensively for TV and film. Their YA series Georgetown Academy was released in ebook format by interactive publisher Coliloquy (since sold to Vook) and has built a strong following on Wattpad, with over 1.3 million reads and over 12,000 followers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525301339
Publisher:	Kids Can Press, Limited
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	344
Sales rank:	663,844
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Alyssa Schwartz has sold multiple television pilots to NBC, CW and ABC and has written films for several studios, including Paramount and MGM. She recently branched out into Young Adult fiction with the four-book series Georgetown Academy and the mystery-thriller The Lost Causes, both co-authored with her writing partner, Jessica Etting. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Editorial Reviews

... well-executed, fast-paced ...—Kirkus Reviews

... a compelling page-turner ...—Booklist

The ending begs for the inevitable sequel and will have teens anticipating the next book.—School Library Journal

This book is true recreational reading and feels like the first installment of a new series.—VOYA Magazine

Those who like an action-packed and suspenseful story will turn pages right to the end ...—CM Magazine

From the Publisher

08/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Five seemingly disconnected teens are thrust together unwittingly by the FBI to help solve the recent murder of former agent Lily Carpenter. Sabrina, Justin, Gabby, Andrew, and Z are unknowingly drugged with a serum so powerful that each develops special telekinetic powers; thus, the Lost Causes is born. With the advent of these new abilities, each of the teens is gifted with the self-importance and belonging they crave, even if they didn't know it. Patricia, the lead FBI investigator, requests the teens' help, not just with Lily's murder, but also with the retrieval of Lily's store of that same serum, now missing at the hands of her killer. Using these powers of deduction to investigate, the teens are naturally suspicious of Patricia and her partner, Nash. What is Patricia's true connection to Lily? How much does Nash really know about the serum and the FBI program that developed it? The teens must find the killer and reclaim the serum before they are next in line for murder. Although there are some unbelievable plot points, readers will want go along for the ride. The ending begs for the inevitable sequel and will have teens anticipating the next book. VERDICT Recommend to fans of "The Naturals" series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Kami Garcia's Unbreakable.—Michelle Foster, North Caroline High School, Ridgely, MD

School Library Journal

2017-06-27
After a drug replaces their mental ailments with psychic gifts, a group of written-off teens must use their new abilities to solve a murder.An ostensible group-therapy meeting brings them all together: Z (depressed, white, rich girl), Sabrina (addicted to pills, biracial Japanese and African-American, incredibly beautiful), Andrew (hypochondriac, white), Gabby (OCD, white), and Justin (anger problems, Latino, star football player). Instead of the school counselor, they're met by people claiming to be clinical therapists starting a new program for those whose parents have given up on them completely—information they share with the teens. The next morning, psychic gifts show up: retrocognition (object-triggered visions of the past), supermath, clairaudience (hearing others' thoughts), psychokinesis (moving things with the mind), and communicating with ghosts. The therapists reveal themselves as FBI agents who've given the teens a secret serum so they can use their new abilities to solve a murder—that of an ex-FBI agent and the serum's inventor, whose serum stash is missing. The teens enjoy their gifts and the sense of direction that the mission gives them, as well as reprieve from their issues, until a teen ghost warns them not to trust the agents. The well-executed, fast-paced mystery plot turns slightly creepy with a romantic storyline between one of the teens and an FBI agent; though he's young at 22, the subplot lays a skeevy coating over the fun. The ending teases a sequel. A campy, popcorn read. (Science fiction/thriller. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews