Children - Fiction & Literature

True Talents

Name: True Talents
Author: David Lubar
ISBN: 9780765348562

by David Lubar

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Overview

It’s been over a year since fourteen-year-old Eddie “Trash” Thalmeyer and his friends from Edgeview Alternative School found out about their special hidden talents. Trash can move things with his mind, Torchie is a fire-starter, Cheater reads minds, Lucky finds lost objects, Flinch can predict the future, and Martin can see into people’s souls. Now back home with their families, all the boys want to do is get back to their normal lives, start attending high school, and keep in touch with their friends from Edgeview.

When Trash tests his power in a bank and accidentally steals a fistful of cash, he is kidnapped by the ruthless leader of a shadowy company whose purpose is to gather information about psychic phenomena—and who is willing to do anything to get it…. Torchie, Cheater, Lucky, Flinch, and Martin join forces to rescue their friend using their hidden talents, and discover their true talents in the process.

Synopsis

KLIATT

It's been some time (1999) since Hidden Talents introduced Lubar's characters—the friends Martin, Trash, Cheater, Torchie, Flinch and Lucky—all of whom have super powers that mostly have gotten them into trouble. The adventure in True Talents begins with Trash, who has the power to move objects with his mind, escaping from a laboratory where he has been held in a zombie-like state. We don't know until the story progresses who was experimenting with his mind and for what purpose. It's a sinister purpose, of course. Trash and his friends slowly gather together and use their combined talents to free Trash from this evil man who is trying to harness Trash's power. The reader gets a good idea of how privacy can be destroyed, with surveillance of phone calls, in streets with camera, over the computer—it's almost impossible to hide from authorities who have access to such tools. There are brutal encounters, enough to satisfy the most bloodthirsty middle-school male reader, and the chases, the captures, the escapes, the confrontations are nonstop. The first book was an ALA Best Book for YAs, and I'm sure this one will be chosen as well. The short chapters, the challenging concepts, the fine, suspenseful writing will keep readers on edge.

About the Author, David Lubar

David Lubar created a sensation with his debut novel, Hidden Talents, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. He is also the author of Flip and the two short story collections In the Land of the Lawn Weenies and Invasion of the Road Weenies. He lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania with his wife, daughter, and three cats.

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Editorials

KLIATT - Claire Rosser

VOYA - Rebecca Moore

Eddie "Trash" Thalmeyer, the telekinetic from Hidden Talents (Tor, 1999/VOYA October 1999) is in big trouble. He is imprisoned in a research facility, where he is being continuously drugged and tested by a government-funded psychopath determined to turn him-and other psychics-into weapons. Eddie does not remember much of how he got there, but he does remember the worst part: He thinks that he killed a man. Meanwhile Eddie's five other "talented" friends from the Edgeview Alternative School find themselves inexplicably drawn to Philadelphia and troubled by thoughts of Trash, whom they believe was killed in a car crash. Even when Eddie manages to escape and rejoin his friends, their troubles are far from over because the psychopath and his goons are now hot on their trails. Can they discover their true talents in time to save their lives, and their futures? In the afterword, Lubar calls his novel a "rollicking adventure," but it really is not. It is a harrowing adventure, rife with fear and violence, and the main characters have major internal struggles about their own capacity for violence. Because of these themes, some of Lubar's comic-relief headings$MD "Part Three, which covers a Thursday that makes Wednesday seem like a day of rest"-seem out of place, trivializing the seriousness of the boys' situation. But that is a minor quibble in a gripping page-turner, with a flawlessly structured plot and compelling, struggling characters who never let each other down. Try this sequel with fans of Tor Seidler's Brainboy and and the Deathmaster (HarperCollins, 2003/VOYA October 2003), and Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books.

Children's Literature - Caitlyn Payne

"If they find out about us, bad things are gonna happen. People hate anyone who's different." This statement is made by one of the five, unusually talented boys who are the focus of this novel—and he has no idea how right he is. As the story opens Eddie, better known as Torchie because of his fire-starting power, is being held hostage by an unknown man who wants to exploit his abilities. It becomes a battle of wills between the man and Torchie as to what he will reveal and what he will not. Meanwhile, Torchie's four friends believe he is dead. They are trying to reconcile themselves to this fact, while going on with their own lives and keeping their own diverse and supernatural talents concealed. But a strong mental connection forged among the five boys keeps Torchie at the edge of the other boys' consciousness, and it is through this connection that the boys realize that Torchie is in trouble. They slowly put together the clues as to where Torchie is being held and plan a rescue mission to save their friend—and their secret abilities—from certain exploitation. The novel starts off a little slowly, but the novel's premise is interesting and unique enough to keep readers eager for more. Those who have not read the prequel Hidden Talents may be confused by the abrupt start to the novel; the beginning action sequences may seem very disjointed. However, once a reader sorts out the characters and begins to become involved in the story, s/he will get an intriguing and socially conscious novel that addresses questions about exploitation, friendship, and taking a stand for what is right, no matter what the cost.

Kirkus Reviews

In the opening pages of this sequel to Hidden Talents (1999), 15-year-old Eddie Thalmayer, aka Trash, awakens in a locked room, groggy from being overmedicated. Bowdler, a sadistic adult who seemingly works for the government, wants to harness Eddie's ability to mentally move objects and create the perfect weapon. Readers learn that Trash is one of the special power teens from Hidden Talents's Edgeview Alternative School (Torchie, Cheater, Flinch, Lucky and Martin round out the group). Their powers are definitely cool, but they are demonstrated only occasionally during this work, which reads quite long and requires familiarity with the first title. Escaping from the lab, Trash sends out a telepathic message for his buddies to rendezvous in Philadelphia. Bowdler, like crazed school administrator Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, hunts them down. Middle-school readers might enjoy how the teens turn the tables on a deranged adult, but overall, the humor is forced and the danger is not as immediate as Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters series, which also features teens with psychic talents and packs a greater punch. (Fiction. 10-14)