SYLO by D. J. MacHale (review)

The laid-back life style on Pemberwick Island, off the coast of Maine, suits fourteen-year-old Tucker just fine: he's got a few friends, an undemanding spot on the football team, and some extra cash helping out his dad and the local lobstermen. In this first installment of a trilogy, Pemberwick's peace is shattered by several mysterious deaths of otherwise healthy residents, the appearance of a dealer in performance-enhancing crystals, and the sudden occupation of the island by a U.S. military organization called SYLO, ostensibly there to quarantine the islanders while the CDC isolates an unnamed contagion. Many of the islanders, including Tucker and his buddies Quinn and Tori, aren't falling for this explanation, mostly due to the suspicious combination of severed mainland communication, the incarceration of seemingly blameless citizens, the dearth of actual quarantine procedures, and the eerie black spacecraft that zoom over Pemberwick. After a group of rebel islanders, including Tori's father, are killed by SYLO, the teens stage a daring escape by boat to try to summon help from the mainland, but, as the cliffhanger ending demonstrates, the East Coast has plenty of problems of its own. MacHale is off to a powerhouse start in this well-paced thriller. Taking the time in his ample page count to establish islander relationships and the state of normal on Pemberwick pays off when the action kicks in, and readers are not only entertained by the pyrotechnics but emotionally invested in the characters and their quirky piece of home turf. The reveal of SYLO and its enemy arrives with a bang at the last minute, leaving readers stranded with the teens in Portland, Maine and primed for the next title.