ACID by Emma Pass

2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.

The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago.

This is Emma Pass's debut and boy, was it good! I flew through it, Emma painted this futuristic world that was real and very possible the way our country's going at the moment! Speaking of, it was set in London! Not enough dystopians are set in the UK but they make for very good end-of-the-world settings as well as being that little bit more relatable for a UKYA audience. It was more totalitarian then post-apocalyptic which was interesting but very well done. ACID is the full-force police over the UK, ruling with an iron fist and all that, with curfews and mandatory arranged marriages and a terrifying no crime policy. 

Jenna was everything she promised to be: a proper kick-ass heroine that won't sit around and wait for others to save her. She wasn't in the prison for very long, in fact only a few chapters. Pretty soon, she is broken out and on her way to fighting for her life against a massive conspiracy and typical dystopian government - very 1984. But she's not done there. There were so many layers and stages to this that I very nearly got lost but couldn't possibly put it down: I had to find out! First Jenna was Jenna, then Mia, then in hiding from ACID, then Jess - just wow, no wonder she wanted them to stop messing with her life! It was unbelievable what they had done to her, messing with her mind just to protect ACID's control over the country. 

Then there was Max. The son of the man that helped Jenna break out of prison, he spends most of the book not knowing who she is because she's on the run. But their love story, as it were, was really sweet and a little heart-breaking because Max was adorable but he didn't realise that Jenna was effectively responsible for his father's death! They were so cute together and I could understand why Jenna was so protective over him, after everything ACID had taken from her.

And finally I have to mention the extra articles and letters that inter-spaced the story, giving us a bit more information about ACID's regime and Jenna's back story. Very intriguing and well portrayed, just teasing us with a few more clues! And while I'm pretty sure this was a standalone, the ending was just as teasing and purposefully left open, giving the impression that Jenna lived on and maybe everything wasn't perfect but she was done bowing down to overruling governments. 

Published 25th April 2013 by Random House.