Felice mercoledì a tutti!
Questo post avrei dovuto pubblicarlo ieri, ma invece di martedì avevo capito giovedì xD Colpa mia :P Comunque, recuperato oggi ^_^ Ho deciso di partecipare a questo evento perché sono stata mooolto intrigata dalla trama ▬ e poi si sa, quando ci sono di mezzo gli assassini, ecco che arrivo io :3 E The Murder Complex di Lindsay Cummings ha ottime probabilità di finire nella mia TBR ;)
Questo post avrei dovuto pubblicarlo ieri, ma invece di martedì avevo capito giovedì xD Colpa mia :P Comunque, recuperato oggi ^_^ Ho deciso di partecipare a questo evento perché sono stata mooolto intrigata dalla trama ▬ e poi si sa, quando ci sono di mezzo gli assassini, ecco che arrivo io :3 E The Murder Complex di Lindsay Cummings ha ottime probabilità di finire nella mia TBR ;)
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Titolo: The Murder Complex Autore: Lindsay Cummings Serie: The Murder Complex #1 Genere: YA Thriller Data di pubblicazione: 10 Giugno 2014 Editore: Greenwillow Books 
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An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.
Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.
The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?
Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.
Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.
The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?
Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.
LEGGI L'ESTRATTO
Chapter One
MEADOW
It is the
key to survival, the key to life. My father’s old dagger.
“Peri!” I
call out over the waves to my little sister. An old can bobs up and down in the
water, mesmerizing me for a moment. Beyond the Shallows, the sea is packed with
boats. Some of them are still afloat, with their masts stretching like arms to
the sky. Others are half-submerged, shipwrecked and covered with moss.
Among the
boats are other things. Old tires, half of a rusted car, plastic. A body
lies facedown in the waves, her hair spread out like seaweed.
Behind me,
in the city, the Night Siren wails. It starts low, then whoops higher and back
down again. Everyone on the beach hurries into the shadows, knowing all too
well what happens when the sun goes down.
It isn’t
safe anymore. I call out to Peri again. “It’s time to go!”
She holds up
a tiny hand and gives me the signal: two grubby little fingers held high above
her head.
Two minutes.
It is always two more minutes with her.
The sun
is sinking, a massive orange ball melting into the sea. It sets fire to
the sky, and everything is dancing in colors. Reds, oranges, yellows. It
reminds me of blood, it reminds me of my mother.
Peri comes
running up to me, kicking a spray of sand behind her. “I found a periwinkle!”
she squeaks, sounding like a startled seagull. “Like me!”
“Yeah? Let’s
see it.” I cast a glance over my shoulder, at the few people who still litter
the beach, before kneeling down to her level. Peri’s big gray eyes,
the color of sea foam, widen as she places the tiny shell in my
outstretched palm. It’s twisty and fat, with a sharp point at the top. A
mollusk sticks out. Though it has barely enough meat for anyone to eat, I’m
still tempted to shove it into my pocket. But somehow the Initiative would find
out. As sure as the tide comes and goes, the Initiative will always discover
our secrets.
“It’s a good
one,” I say, smiling down at her. “But we can’t keep it.”
The thick
black numbers tattooed onto her forehead crease in frustration. 72050. Peri’s
Catalogue Number, just one number different from mine. Our barcodes show the
Initiative where we are, who we are, every moment of our lives. As
Peri grows, it will grow, and it will never fade or wrinkle because of the
healing nanites we all have in our blood.
“Tell you what.”
I point the tip of my dagger toward the shell. “We’ll mark it. That way, next
time you find it, you’ll remember.” I etch a small heart into the side of the
shell. It’s crooked, and hardly legible. I drop the mollusk on the sand, let
the waves take it away. Peri smiles triumphantly. She’s a miniature version of
me. Silver hair that hangs in loose curls to her waist. Like our mother’s.
“Okay, time
to go.” She grabs my hand and tows me along the sand, humming the tune to an
old lullaby under her breath. Soft, so no one but the two of us can hear it.
Peri knows the value of silence in the Shallows.
At the far
end of the beach, a jetty of large rocks juts out into the ocean.
Waves crash on the rocks, and we get soaked, but it doesn’t matter. The
heat of the summer clings to me like fog.
Peri goes
first, clambering on hands and feet up the jetty and over to the other side. I
climb down after her and my breath catches in my throat.
Pirates.
They’ll do
anything for extra Creds. The Initiative pays them to guard the shore and take
care of minor problems, as well as find and report the citizens who break the
four Commandments of the Shallows.
Commandment
One: Honor the Initiative.
Commandment
Two: Thou shalt not attempt to cross the Perimeter.
Commandment
Three: Honor the Silent Hour.
Commandment
Four: Thou shalt not harbor useful items from the days Before.
“Pay up,”
one of the Pirates says. He stands from his spot by a blazing campfire. They
are cooking fish.
We could
never afford an entire fish. Whatever we gather is sent to the Rations
Department, and mixed and pureed with other nutrient-rich foods for
distribution.
“We don’t
want any trouble tonight,” I say. I press Peri closer to my side. “We just want
to get to our boat.”
The Pirate
laughs, and the two men with him join in. They are all covered in tattoos. One
of them has an Initiative tattoo—an open, unblinking eye—on his neck, just
below his chin. “You want to go to sea, little girl, you gotta pay.”
My hand
finds the dagger on my thigh. There are only three of them. If I were alone, I
could end this at once. But Peri tugs on my shirt, and I see the fear in her
eyes. I cannot risk her safety. Not now, when the Dark Time is so close. And I
have nothing to give the Pirates, nothing to buy us passage.
But Peri does.
She wears a
pair of too-large tennis shoes, and the laces are still intact. Something like
that is precious, and it kills me that I will be the one to take them from her.
“I’ll give
you the laces,” I tell the Pirates, pointing at Peri’s feet. “Then you’ll let
us go.”
The largest
man lets out a whistle. His breath is rotten. “I’m feeling generous tonight,
little girl. Next time, you better come prepared. Understood?”
I nod my
head. “Next time you might not get away with your life.”
He thinks
it’s a joke.
I stoop to
untie the laces. Peri frowns, but does not cry.
She’s
strong, my little sister.
The Pirates
snatch the laces and go back to their fish, laughing. Peri and I pass safely
and run down the beach. We yank the palm fronds and seaweed from our boat. It
is a tiny dinghy, large enough for only two people. I quickly untie the line,
push the boat into the waves, and we leave the shore behind.
“Meadow?
Will we eat tonight?” Peri asks me as I row, weaving through the maze of waste
and litter. The wind blows her hair back from her face, and I notice how her
cheekbones stick out, how her eyes are slightly sunken. She’s losing
more weight.
“Yes.” I
nod, looking away. The way she’s studying me, as if I am the only thing in the
world worth loving, makes my heart fill with guilt. If she only knew what I do
to make sure she can eat. To make sure that all of us survive.
Two miles
from shore, I stop and stare out at the black sea, feeling my shoulders burn
from the effort of rowing. The dinghy bumps up against our houseboat. It is
quiet here, a still night, the waves lapping the boat, the same way they always
have. When my mother was murdered, I thought the world would end with her. But
it goes on.
PROMOZIONE
CONOSCI L'AUTRICE
Lindsay Cummings is the 24-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX series from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, and the MG trilogy THE BALANCE KEEPERS, from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.
Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, can’t get enough of her two pesky German Shepherds, wolf cub, and two horses. She's still waiting on her letter from Hogwarts--it was probably just lost in the mail.
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