Product Description

Fourteen years ago, scientist William Fox implanted four babies with the Medusa gene - a gene for psychic abilities. But Fox died and the babies were hidden away for years. Now the children are teenagers - and unaware that their psychic powers are about to kick in. Cocky, charismatic Nico thinks his emerging telekinetic abilities will bring him money, power and the girl of his dreams. He's about to find out just how wrong he is...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3368 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"This is the first gripping instalment in a highly readable new series." --Myshelf.com, Aug 09

"If you liked McKenzie's previous novels, add this one to your wishlists- it's well worth a read." --Wondrous Reads, 4 Aug 09

"An excellent book that keeps you reading from page 1, not wanting to put the book down." --First news, 17 July 09

"Put down the Harry Potter books you've read, like, five times already and try The Set Up."
--Mizz, July 09

About the Author
'An author whose profile is sky-high,' Sophie is the author of the award-winning Girl, Missing, as well as Blood Ties, Six Steps to a Girl and Three's a Crowd. Sophie lives in London with her twelve-year-old son and goes boxing training in her spare time.

Customer Reviews

Can't wait for the sequel!
After reading 'girl missing' and 'blood ties' and enjoying them, I bought this the day it came out! It was just as good as I thought it would be with a great plot. The book is all about a gene implanted into 4 teenagers at birth which gives the super powers. This runs along side a bit of a love story, but doesn't make it less of a thriller, great 12 to 15 year olds, both girls and boys!!!

good read
I was plesantly surprised by this book when I read it while travelling. It was interesting and gripping. It was just long enough and captivated my attention for a few hours. Although the plot was quite pridictable, good conquers all.... ,it was still nice to have a nice ending while still being hungry for more. I look forward to the next book. I would recommend this book as a quick escape for a young teenager(12 - 16),

a 15 year old girl.

Teenage crime-fighters with superhero powers
Nico Fox lives with his step-father, Fergus Fox, who runs a boarding school near London. Intelligent and popular, Nico thinks he has it all until his best friend, Ketty, starts going out with Billy Martin and he realises that he fancies her. Unfortunately for Nico, his emotional turmoil at this realisation triggers some kind of psychic ability during the school assembly and he wrecks the school hall. Stunned by what's happened, he's even more surprised when Fergus guesses that he was responsible for the destruction and tells him that he shouldn't use the ability he has - telekinesis - because it's evil.

Not everyone feels the same way as Fergus and Nico meets Jack Linden, a man who explains the background to the Medusa gene and who is keen to help Nico develop his abilities and Dylan, an American girl who was one of the four children who were part of the Medusa experiment and whose ability is to create a protective shell around herself. With Jack's help, Nico begins to master his ability, believing that doing so will bring him fame, fortunate and ultimately Ketty. However the deeper Nico gets involved with Jack, the more he discovers that there are sinister forces who want to recreate the Medusa gene and who will do anything to locate the four children implanted with it. As Nico's suspicions of Jack and his motives grow, he comes to realise that he might be on the wrong side.

The plot is fast-moving, there's plenty of action and the psychic abilities are pretty cool. However, there is little emotional depth to the characters and all are shown in broad brush strokes. Nico is emotionally shallow - he never says what he likes about Ketty beyond her being his friend and being beautiful - and he has little difficulty in adapting to his new abilities. The fact that he keeps referring to Ketty as "babe" may irritate some readers. Also, one nitpick is that Nico refers to his ability as "teleporting" on a couple of occasions, when this is a completely different ability to telekinesis.

This is a quick and easy read and there's a teaser for the next book in the series, which will be from Ketty's point of view. The crime-fighting thriller format will appeal to many, although the superficial characterisation means that I won't be reading on.