Shatter Me

Juliette Ferrars has spent most of a year alone in a cell. Since childhood her skin has been deadly to others, and after a terrible accident the Reestablishment, the authoritarian government that took control as the world fell apart, shut her away. She counts the days, writes in a notebook and avoids hoping for anything. The story is told in her voice, and some of her thoughts appear crossed out on the page, showing what she is afraid to admit even to herself.

Everything changes when soldiers put a quiet, strangely familiar boy in her cell. Soon Juliette is moved to the headquarters of Warner, the cold, clever and unsettling young leader of Sector 45, who is fascinated by her ability and plans to make her the regime's weapon against rebels. He gives her clothes, food and comfort, but also impossible choices. Juliette must decide whom she can trust, learn what her power really is and whether it can be used for something other than harm. The final part of the book opens a much larger world and sets up the rest of the series.

Quick, dramatic and full of feeling. About 368 pages, followed by Unravel Me.