Name: Ultraviolet
Rating: 3.612903225806452 (31 reviews)
ISBN: 9781408312759

R. J. Anderson

Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next Tori disintegrated into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

Ultraviolet

Almost seventeen-year-old Alison, who has synesthesia, finds herself in a psychiatric facility accused of killing a classmate whose body cannot be found.

Lynn Braden

Alison has experienced hypersensitivity since she was little, but she has always managed to hide it from everyone, especially her mother, who seems to see it as some kind of defect. When one day she is suddenly overwhelmed by extreme sensitivity, Alison believes that the disintegration of her classmate, Tori, was somehow her fault. She wakes up in the psychiatric wing of the local hospital and is being moved to a facility for long-term psychiatric care. For weeks, Alison tries to come to terms with her placement and her need to be drugged, but then Dr. Faraday comes to do research for a project. He tells Alison that she may not be as crazy as everyone seems to think.

Ultraviolet has a wonderful premise, weaving in mental illness from the point of view of the patient. Even the idea of extraordinary abilities that could look like mental illness is an interesting idea to explore, but the explanations of what Alison experiences outside the care facility and the ending of the story is a cheat and detracts from what could have been a real winner of a book. Overall, a good premise wasted.

Juliana Matias

** spoiler alert **
           So I finally finished it, it was a fairly easy read in just a couple of days. I think 3 stars is the appropriate rating. 

I liked the beginning of the book quite a bit- enjoyed the portrayal of Synesthesia up until the point where the author decided to turn in into a superpower, and thought it was a pretty interesting premise.

I didn’t like the ending, though. The “romance” (if I can even call it that) felt forced and wrong, and I did not enjoy their time off planet. The whole thing was abrupt, and I still don’t get how or why her friend Mel is all of a sudden a bad guy in the story (what was her motivation?). Plus, the turning the synesthesia into a superpower thing irked me (it had been fun and instructional to read about until then, and that destroyed it).

I will not read the sequel, because I cannot see where the author could take this story after this that would be something I’d enjoy, but I’m glad I read the first one, if that makes any sense.

R.J. Anderson

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special. This is not her story. Unless you count the part where I killed her. Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori - the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

Ultraviolet

Reviews

Highlights