RMS Review: H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath by Natalie Wright

Title: H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath
Author: Natalie Wright
Published: 29 January, 2015 
Rating:

H.A.L.F. 9 has taken his first breath of desert air and his first steps in the human world. Created to be a weapon, he proved too powerful for his makers, hidden from humans and sedated. But H.A.L.F. 9 has escaped the underground lab he called home, and the sedation has worn off. He has never been more alive. More powerful. Or more deadly.

Erika Holt longs to ride her motorcycle east until pavement gives way to shore. She bides her time until graduation when she’ll escape the trailer she shares with her alcoholic mother and memories of her dead father. But a typical night in the desert with friends thrusts Erika into a situation more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Circumstances push the two together, and each must make a fateful choice. Will Erika help H.A.L.F. 9 despite her “don’t get involved” rule? And will H.A.L.F. 9 let Erika live even though he was trained to kill?

The two may need to forget their rules and training if either is to survive the dangers of the deep beneath them.

Young adult fiction is not normally on my “to read and review list” however, I am very pleased to have made an exception for H.A.L.F. : The Deep Beneath. Wright has crafted an intriguing tale with characters you really want to get to know. A mysterious prologue baits the hook for readers. Move the timeline forward 17 years to the present and meet a group of friends in a slow, sleepy town setting. Their ordinary lives and challenges quickly pale into insignificance as “an incident in the desert’ sees them catapulted into a secret military project. As the action picks up, and it certainly does pick up, we learn more about their characters and they learn more about themselves.

There is quite a bit of assumed knowledge in this book. If you are a sic fi devotee then your accumulated knowledge of lights in the night sky, secret desert locations and the cover stories from ‘Open Minds’ Magazine will be more than enough.

The Deep Beneath in the title works on a number of levels. Physically in the setting and the contemporary ethical issues of scientific endeavour which are artfully woven into the storyline.

This is not your typical saving mankind and the world adventure - certainly left with questions during and at the end of the book about who is saving who from whom?

Hint for readers: if you are unfamiliar with the geography of the setting then ‘google’ a little, it will really help you understand the physical place of the story. Book 1 sets the stage for further adventures - looking forward to more in this series from Natalie Wright.

Favourite word from the book: “humidity”

Favourite quote from the book: “The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk? but ‘Can they Suffer?”   – Jeremy Bentham

Review submitted by Review Girl, RMS Reviewer.