Locked Tight (Mindjack Book Four): YA SciFi, Teen Fiction

Susan Kaye Quinn

Apr 2017 · Mindjack Book 4 · Twisted Space LLC

About this ebook

When mindreaders run the world, being a jacker makes you a weapon. Zeph can break open the toughest minds—or lock the weakest—which only means every Clan leader wants to own him. He did as he was told, kept his head down, and tried to shut out the screams. But when they came after his family, he hugged his kid sister goodbye and ran away to keep them safe. For two years, he’s passed as a reader. Then his family disappears, readers start changing into super jackers, and Zeph is forced to return to a city filled with jackers who hate him. To find his family, he must trick a mindware CEO into helping him, avoid a girl who knows him too well, and spy on the most powerful jacker in the state.

All without dying or revealing his abilities—or being caught in the firestorm of hate between jackers and readers that’s threatening to pull the world apart.

MINDJACK

Open Minds (Book 1)

Closed Hearts (Book 2)

Free Souls (Book 3)

Locked Tight (Book 4)

Cracked Open (Book 5)

Broken Wide (Book 6)

Mindjack Short Story Collection (Book 7)

FORMATS AND TRANSLATIONS

Mindjack available in ebook, print, audiobook, French and German

LIVE ACTION TRAILER

Voted Best Trailer at the 2014 Illinois International Film Festival and one of 50 Most Cinematic Trailers Ever Made – check it out at Susan’s website.

KEYWORDS: Young adult dystopian, teen science fiction, cyberpunk, action and adventure, genetic engineering, post-apocalyptic, metaphysical and visionary, young adult dystopian,

Ratings and reviews

It's been several years since the original mindjack trilogy was published, and this is the first book in a sequel trilogy with a new protagonist. Of course, all our favorite characters from the first trilogy make appearances here, so everything about the world feels familiar. The story itself was fantastic - it follows a young jacker with a powerful ability who is extremely cynical (and with good reason.) Wherever he goes, people want to use him for his ability, so he has learned to hide it well and fake being a reader instead of a jacker. He ran away from home to keep his family safe, but now they are missing. His new employer and a secret government agency promise to help him find them, manipulating him and using him as a spy. The entire book is told from the point of view of our protagonist, Zephyr MacCay. Even the minor characters are well developed and we understand their motivations. Everyone isn't homogenous, and the full range of personalities is represented. There are bigoted people who think all jackers are automatically monsters, villainous jackers who use their power to harm others, peace-loving folk who want to unite the readers and jackers, and everything in between. The world that Susan Kaye Quinn has created for us is fully thought out, and all the technical descriptions of futuristic devices and abilities are believable. I definitely would recommend reading the first trilogy before reading this book, as there will be numerous plot points that will be spoiled otherwise. The story is filled with adventure, and the pacing is between medium and quick. The action never stops, and while some points were predictable, there were surprises and twists I didn't expect. I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy. I volunteered to review an ARC of this novel.

4.5 stars--LOCKED TIGHT is the fourth full –length installment in Susan Kaye Quinn’s young adult (YA) Mindjack urban fantasy, dystopian series. LOCKED TIGHT and the prequel novella The Locksmith are the beginning of a new arc in the Mindjack series. No longer focusing on jacker Kira Moore, the series shifts focus to eighteen year old mindjacker Zephyr MacCay who has the ability to lock down or unlock the human mind. SOME BACKGROUND: In a world where mindreading is the norm (due to decades of contaminated or purposely poisoned water) there are those with more powerful abilities than most. These are their stories of discrimination, betrayal, retribution and control. The human population developed various forms of mind-reading, mind altering and mind controlling abilities. And to complicate matters those without the ability to mindjack are purposely setting out to bring war between the have and the have-nots. Told from first person point of view (Zeph) LOCKED TIGHT follows eighteen year old mindjacker Zephyr MacCay as he searches for his family (and thirteen year old sister) he hasn’t seen in years-a family of mindreaders whose lives were threatened by the existence of their eldest son. Zephyr has the ability to hide his abilities but a threat of another nature finds our hero caught between three potential enemies never knowing who is telling the truth or out right lies. What ensues are Zeph’s attempts to locate his sister as several warring factions battle for control of Zephyr himself. LOCKED TIGHT is an infinitely detailed, brilliant and remarkable look at a world struggling with the fall out of chemical contamination of the human population. From mindreaders to mindjackers Susan Kaye Quinn’s MINDJACKER series looks at the dysfunctional relationship between a hierarchy of mental and physical powers, and the breakdown of society between the ‘have and have nots’. The Mindjacker series focuses on betrayal, revenge, discrimination, specieism, and the battle for control, and the potential to create a weapon of unimaginable strengths. The premise is unparalleled with a profound and innovative message as well as a frighteningly realistic look at the future where fear and anarchy reign.

In Locked Tight, Susan Kaye Quinn returns to the world of the Mindjack Series, showcasing the events through the eyes of a new protagonist whose origin story is told in the novella, The Locksmith. The world of readers and jackers has been well developed throughout this series and even though this is the fourth installment, the author still manages to illustrate that there is still so much about this world we have yet to learn as new foes with new agendas take center stage. Zeph's story takes the reader along as he tows the line between the readers and the jackers, tentatively forming a place for himself with each of the opposing groups; a hard thing to accomplish in a world where despite most of the population being an open book, there are plenty of secrets and no one is really sure who to trust or who might really be on your side. What I like about this story is that it's not often predictable. When you think that you've figured out where things are going, a character does something surprising, or an event leads things in a completely different direction. This story doesn't rush things or move at a crawl, it's a well-paced slow burn where the more events unfold, the more the plot weaves itself together, drawing people and events that appear unconnected together into a much larger narrative. This makes for a suspenseful and compelling story. What Susan Kaye Quinn does very well in this work is tell a story that is engaging and entertaining, all the while giving the reader food for thought about the deeper meaning of the narrative. It is an escape into another world that can be appreciated simply for its story-telling, but it also manages to provoke a sense of relevance as commentary on the events of our world today. This forges a personal connection for the reader to Zeph's journey, and the experiences of the other characters in this world as well. As this is the continuation of a series, the book can be enjoyed on its own, but reading the books that come before it will make the work much more enjoyable. Locked Tight is a great book and I highly recommend the entire Mindjack Series. Readers will NOT be disappointed!

About the author

Susan Kaye Quinn is a rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Her works range from gritty cyberpunk to hopepunk climate fiction, with side trips into steampunk romance and middle grade fantasy. Her bestselling novels and short stories have been optioned for Virtual Reality, translated into German and French, and featured in several anthologies. She writes full-time, trying to dream a better future into being.

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