Jessica Shirvington’s new book, Disruption, is only one month away – and it is unputdownable. Shirvington hit gold with her best-selling five book Embrace series. The final book, Empower, was released at the end of 2013, and Shirvington recently released a free accompanying short story on her website.
If there was any doubt, Shirvington’s standalone book Between the Lives proved that this success was based on merit, rather than luck. Between the Lives will be published in the United States as One Past Midnight on July 22, 2014. Now all eyes are on Disruption, her first series following Embrace.
Hypable book review: Between the Lives (One Past Midnight) by Jessica Shirvington
Disruption is the first in a two-part science-fiction thriller duology. You can read the full synopsis, as well as the first extract of Disruption exclusively on Hypable.
Jessica Shirvington will appear as a guest host on the next episode of Hypable’s Book Hype podcast. If you have questions for Shirvington, please leave them in the comments or contact @BookHype on Twitter.
Unfortunately, we have to keep the details of Disruption under lock and key. But here is what we can tell you, and it is completely spoiler free.
Review: ‘Disruption’ by Jessica Shirvington
How far would you go to save someone you love? This question is at the centre of Disruption, as protagonist Maggie fights with all of her being to save the father who she lost. But this is not the only battle in Jessica Shirvington’s new book; in a way, Disruption is a book of moral questions.
When we meet Maggie, she is totally entrenched in her own black and white world view, while everyone around her seems to exist in a world of grey. She has an ally who helps her, but only because she is blackmailing him; a mother who cares for her, but is absent so often that she hardly knows her own daughter.
Maggie could so easily become a cliche of the Young Adult “strong female” trope, but she is more – she is realer. She is strong – literally, she does double-duty as a bodyguard – but she is also highly manipulative, secretive, and often unlikeable. Conversely, she is a dreamer, using nostalgia to deflect from her current reality, and wishing for a future that a character as practical as she should know is impossible.
Unsurprisingly, much of the enjoyment of reading Disruption comes down to the supporting characters. Maggie is rigid but not brittle, and everything is a means to an end – it is not unenjoyable to read, but it requires a counterbalance. The book relies on the supporting characters (including one of the best “sidekicks” in recent books, and a complex love interest) to counteract her uncompromising attitudes.
Like its protagonist, Disruption packs a punch.
Shirvington’s writing has always utilised suspense, but in this case the tension is imbued into every sentence and word choice, seeping through the story. A character like Maggie is constantly alert and on the look for danger – therefore, so too is reader. Disruption is unputdownable; a thrilling first installment that sets up many questions for its followup, and will leave readers gasping for more.