The Glimpse by Claire Merle (ARC)

The Glimpse
Claire Merle
Exp. Pub.: June 7, 2012

Synopsis: Once you've seen into the future, can you change your destiny?

In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society and into the pits of the human soul. And as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper's abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe, but she also learns to love as she has never loved before.

In this dystopian world the Pure bloodlines (ie. no genetic markers for mental illness) are separated from the Crazies who live in the Community (ie. people with genetic markers for mental illness). Apparently Ana has been living the life a Pure but only because her father had access to the testing database and altered the results of her Pure test. Ana does something a typical stupid teen will do (I'll let you read what), raises the suspicions of the Pure board and they retest her Crazy-@ss. Now they've got quite the condundrum. Should they kick her into the Crazy civilization to defend for herself or allow her to go through with the binding ceremony (ie. engagement) with Pure Jasper if he's still interested? Jasper still cares for her and goes through the proceedings but they'll never be allowed to have children. But Jasper, whose father is important in a huge pharmaceutical company dealing with mental illness, does a disappearing act before they can be married and authorities believe he's been kidnapped by some radicals in the Community.

Right before he's taken, Jasper mentions a few unsettling things to Ana. Things he was looking into about the Pure/Crazies that probably got him into trouble. So what's a girl to do? Wait and see if the authorities can find these people (whom Jasper clearly said he couldn't trust) or sneak into the community and use the clues he gave to track down the people suspected of taking him? Guess which one she chose? I actually preferred the story once she got into the community, event though it was a little ridiculous for a seventeen year old girl to be doing this. There she infiltrates the radicals and learns that maybe Jasper's suspicions were right after all. But if the radicals were wrongfully blamed, what exactly happened to Jasper?

At some point someone's going to have to explain to me the segregation that's going on this book, cause if I was reading it right, their homes are segregated but Ana goes into Crazy infested areas to go to school and for her binding ceremony. I don't get that. Why bother segretating at all if you're comfortable with your children mingling with people that can snap any moment? Overall, the story was creative and kept my attention, but what I really liked best was the developing attraction between Ana and one of the radicals (sorry Jasper). The Glimpse is definitely worth your time, so pick it up.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.