Jennifer Lynn Barnes was 19 when she wrote Golden. 19! Do you know what I was doing when I was 19? Following Matt Goss around London. Shut up. Anyway, Barnes' time was much better spent (obviously) since Golden is a treat.
Like the other women in her family, Felicity "Lissy" James has "the Sight" - she can see people's auras. Her mother, Katie, can find lost children. Or at least she usually can. When she is unable to find 4-year-old Cory Park until after his murder, the James family are hounded out of town and return to Katie's Oklahoma home town.
Lissy is greeted by three bitchy girls who tell her that her new school is split into "Goldens" and "Nons". They make it quite clear that Lissy is likely to be a Non and when, on Lissy's first day, she both throws up and passes out, her position is assured.
But the vomiting and fainting was a reaction to Lissy's first glimpse of her new Maths teacher, Mr Kissler. As a child, Lissy gave the name "Garn" to a really bad aura, an aura that signifies a person has done, or is doing, something really really bad. She's never before seen an entirely Garn aura until Mr Kissler's so, with the help of her younger sister, Lexie and Audra and Dylan (two friendly fellow Nons), Lissy has to work out just what Mr Kissler has done and what she can do about it.
The first three quarters of Golden are entertaining, but not earth-shattering - I wasn't excited to get back to it, but I enjoyed it as I read - but then the last quarter is absolutely fantastic. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but I was so wrong. If Barnes can come up with something as inventive and thrilling as the end of this book aged 19, Lord only knows what she'll do next.
Rating: 4/5
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