Gone (novel)



"One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone."

He just vanished - along with everyone else over the age of 14 in a 10-mile radius around Perdido Beach, California, which was also enclosed by an impenetrable dome. The children left behind find themselves battling hunger, fear, and one another in a novel strongly reminiscent of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Things go from bad to worse when some of the children begin exhibiting strange powers, animals show signs of freakish mutations, and people disappear as soon as they turn 15.

Written by Michael Grant, co-author of the hit book series Animorphs, Everworld, Remnants, and author of BZRK. There are five books so far in the series: Gone, released in 2008, Hunger, released in 2009, Lies, released in May 2010, Plague, released in April 2011, and Fear, released in April 2012. The sixth and final installment in the series, Light, will be released in March 2013.

Now has a character sheet.

No relation to the 2012 Amanda Seyfried film of the same name. --

"Turk: Weird name. Nerezza: Yes, it is."
 * A King Am I: By the end of Plague,
 * Above the Influence: Inverted in Plague when
 * Acid Reflux Nightmare: Sam, after eating canned asparagus.
 * Action Girl: Lana, Dekka, Brianna, Taylor, Penny, Brittany..... it would be easier to list the exceptions (Astrid, Mary, and Diana), though even they have their moments.
 * Adults Are Useless: Well, they aren't even there...
 * Aerith and Bob: We go all the way from Sam to Drake to Astrid to Caine to Zil to Orsay.
 * Lampshaded with Nerezza:

"Drake: I whipped her, Sam. I broke her legs so she couldn't run. I think she liked it. (grins) She was screaming, but she liked it."
 * Affably Evil: Caine
 * After the End
 * And I Must Scream: Brittney being buried alive.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love:
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Drake, he burns frogs, microwaves a puppy, and draws pictures of weapons
 * Arc Words: "Hungry in the dark."
 * For Astrid in Plague:
 * Ascended Fanboy: Duck Zhang.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Zil Sperry. Whenever he gets a Character Focus chapter, a lot of it is him admiring Lance and his looks. It's popular Fanon that he is gay but
 * Anyone Can Die: Following in the footsteps of Animorphs, the series has a surprisingly high body count for a YA book series.
 * The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best In People: Sam takes the lead during the FAYZ, despite being completely average during normal circumstances.
 * Taking charge when things get tough and attempting (not always succeeding) to go back to being a Ordinary High School Student is an established character trait for Sam.
 * Even before the FAYZ, when he saved a busload of his classmates from going over a cliff.
 * Though, completely averted with other characters.
 * Asian Airhead: Taylor.
 * Ax Crazy: Drake. It gets worse after . And even worse now that
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Badass Bookworm: Computer Jack, highly capable in computers... And kicking your ass.
 * Badass Gay: Dekka.
 * Badass Normal: Edilio.
 * Berserk Button: Little Pete is quite sensitive to loud noises, roughhousing, and threatening Astrid. His yet-to-be-clarified power makes this an extremely dangerous button to press.
 * Do not threaten Brianna in Jack's presence. It makes him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.
 * Threatening Brianna seems to be a bad idea all around. Dekka had a similar if not worse reaction.
 * Drake pushes this intentionally to draw Sam, Dekka and Jack out. Thanks to Toto, it doesn't work.
 * Drake pushes this intentionally to draw Sam, Dekka and Jack out. Thanks to Toto, it doesn't work.

"Emily: You can get the lights back on? Caine: I can. It would take about a week."
 * Big Badass Wolf: The mutant coyotes in the desert.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: The bugs from Plague.
 * Bizarre Baby Boom: Some of the kids develop powers
 * Blatant Lies: Caine's expertise.

"Drake: (grins) "This should be fun." Then with his real hand, he drew the knife out of his chest, slowly, as if relishing every inch of steel."
 * Body Horror: E.Z
 * The parasitic insects in Plague grow
 * Also from Plague,
 * In Fear
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Brianna
 * Break the Cutie: Most of the characters undergo this at some point, but a special note goes out to . When introduced she is a sweet, loving, devoutly Christian girl. Then she:   It's no wonder the poor girl   when she finally meets the Darkness.
 * Diana. Dear god, Diana. Fear has not been kind to her.
 * Broken Ace: Lance is smart, athletic, handsome, and was popular before the poof. He's also a Fantastic Racist.
 * Bullying a Dragon: Pretty much all the normal kids towards the freaks.
 * Butch Lesbian: Dekka
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Duck Zhang in Hunger.
 * Children Are Innocent: Averted, subverted, inverted, played every way but straight.
 * Child Soldiers
 * Combat Sadomasochist: Drake. Attacking him usually results in him cheering that he's "unkillable" and then murdering you.
 * To make matters creepier, he gets stabbed in the chest and finds it hilarious.
 * To make matters creepier, he gets stabbed in the chest and finds it hilarious.

"Edilio: I'm not just your good-looking Mexican sidekick. Sam: You're not Mexican, you're Honduran. Edilio: Sometimes I forget."
 * Control Freak: Astrid
 * Crapsack World: YES.
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: Too many to count,  And anyone who Drake kills. And the kids eaten by coyotes during the Thanksgiving Battle. And the kids who get thrown through a wall by Caine. , particularly because of what happened afterwards. Much of the deaths in Plague count as well.
 * Dangerous Fifteenth Birthday: Anybody 15 and up disappears when the FAYZ is formed, and if you turn 15 while inside the FAYZ then you disappear as well..
 * Dark Is Evil:.
 * Darker and Edgier: Each book seems to get progressively darker, except for Lies, which was about on the same level as Hunger. Not that it started out on a light note, though. Fear is this on a very literal level.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Diana.
 * Did Not Do the Research: From Plague: "It was an E string from a cello [Brianna had] found." Cellos don't have E strings.
 * Possibly averted, due to the fact that the passage in question is from Brianna's POV. She may not have known that cellos don't have E strings.
 * Disability Superpower: Astrid's little brother, Little Pete, who is severely autistic.
 * Disaster Democracy
 * Disproportionate Retribution: In Fear Cigar kills a fellow fisherman in a drunken brawl. Since he committed murder,
 * Domed Hometown: After the adults disappear, there is a barrier around Perdido Beach.
 * Doorstopper: While averaged sized for most adult novels, at 500 to 600 pages a piece, the books are gigantic for young adult novels. They are steadily decreasing in length as the series draws to its conclusion, however.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Also, Jasmine.
 * Duck: Brianna is yelling for Duck, and confuses a lot of people.
 * Dumb Blonde: Inverted by Astrid the Genius. Lampshaded when Lana meets the main characters and is surprised that Astrid is intelligent.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Darkness. Giant pile of living rock that represents itself in telepathic hallucinations as a giant floating mouth.
 * Endofthe World As We Know It: Obviously.
 * Enfant Terrible:, so very much. Within the four hours   to the end of Fear, she manages to   after she accidentally drops her  ,   due to Penny's visions and  . And that's not all... She also attempts to   and  .   in any of the two cases.
 * Ensemble Cast: While Sam could generally be called the protagonist (though there are always large portions of the story not focused on him), "Lies" moves all the way into this trope, with Sam getting equal or less attention than Astrid's struggle to lead the council and care for her brother, Sanjit and the island kids trying to fly to the mainland, power struggles among the Coates kids, Mary's growing mental problems, and many other subplots with the rest of the Loads and Loads of Characters.
 * Et Tu, Brute? Sam and Quinn in the first book.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: All the Coates kids have something or someone capable of humanizing them... Except Drake, that kid jumped off the slippery slope a long time ago and is proud of it.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Caine is understandably appalled at
 * Evil Overlord List: Caine fails at 17, 24, 55, 61, 100, 111, 115, 131, 151, 164, 223 and possibly . He actually follows 199.
 * :  develops at an accelerated pace, probably because
 * Eye Scream:
 * Expy: Several characters are reminiscent of Michael Grant's previous series with wife K.A. Applegate:
 * Sam is very similar to Jake in terms of taking charge and being looked at as a leader figure. There's also a bit of Jobs's dreamer, kind-hearted soul there too.
 * Astrid is an interesting mix of Ax, Jalil, and Cassie. She loves science and analyzing things like Ax, is a rational thinker much like Jalil but she's every bit of the heart and Team Mom that Cassie was.
 * Dekka is basically a transplanted Tate, with shades of Rachel.
 * Caine has every bit of Yago's ambition and ruthlessness and Diana is as manipulative and cunning as 2Face.
 * Faith Heel Turn:.
 * Fantastic Racism:
 * Regular kids against the Moofs (mutant freaks).
 * Quinn at his lowest points resorts to actual racism, usually against Edilio. In fact, nearly every villain refers to Edilio as "the Mexican". Lampshaded in the second book by Edilio himself:
 * Fantastic Racism:
 * Regular kids against the Moofs (mutant freaks).
 * Quinn at his lowest points resorts to actual racism, usually against Edilio. In fact, nearly every villain refers to Edilio as "the Mexican". Lampshaded in the second book by Edilio himself:

"Sam: I don't want to sound weird, but you know I love you, right? Dekka: Love you too, Sam."
 * In Plague, Lance goes full-out racist and blames blacks, gays, Mexicans and Jews for all his problems, as well as freaks.
 * Fille Fatale: Diana, to some extent, although relative to the rest of the FAYZ, fourteen isn't that young.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: "Brittney had no romantic feelings for Edilio, but what she had went a lot deeper. She would rather burn for eternity in the hottest fires of hell than let Edilio down. "
 * Dekka and Sam:

"Howard: "Don't worry about it. It's just a FAYZ!""
 * Five-Bad Band
 * The Big Bad: Caine
 * The Dragon: Drake,
 * The Evil Genius: Computer Jack
 * The Brute: Orc
 * The Dark Chick: Diana
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Sam
 * The Lancer: Edilio, Brianna
 * The Big Guy: Orc, Dekka
 * The Smart Guy: Astrid,
 * The Chick: Quinn, on occasion.
 * Team Mom: Mary
 * Team Pet: Patrick
 * The Medic: Lana, Dahra
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Sam's ability, when being used offensively.
 * Fun with Acronyms: The Fallout Alley Youth Zone.

"Quinn: It looks like the world's worst picnic. Astrid: I believe that's what's referred to as Gallows Humor."
 * The E.Z Killers (mutated worms), or "zekes".
 * The SDC, "supernatural death cough."
 * Gallows Humor:

"Dekka: Don't let it happen. Swear to me Sam. Swaer it to me by God or by your own soul or whatever you believe, swear to me, Sam. Sam: I won't let it happen, Dekka. I swear it."
 * Gender Blender Name : Quinn is a boy.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: When she meets the Darkness in Plague,  goes mad and coems to believe that it is God.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: Diana is often referred to as witch, instead of the obvious swear word bitch.
 * She actually refers to herself as a bitch in Plague, subverting this trope.
 * Grey and Gray Morality: The good guys are not wholly good, and the bad guys are not wholly evil. Except for Drake, again. And Penny.
 * Grievous Harm with a Body: Caine throws
 * Harmful to Touch: Touching the barrier feels like sticking your entire arm in an electrical outlet.
 * The Hero: Mercilessly deconstructed with Sam who by the end of Hunger,
 * Heroic BSOD: Sam and Lana, in Lies.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Howard and Orc. Sam and Quinn originally.
 * High Heel Face Turn: Zig-Zagged with Diana. Throughout the series, she's probably the least outwardly loyal Coates kid, often to the point of sabotaging their plans, but is the only one that actually cares about Caine. She stays even after half the team Heel Face Turns but is openly critical of how things are being done. But she remains on her own side the whole time, so there's no technical change.
 * Homeschooled Kids:  Well, before the FAYZ, anyways.
 * And Orsay.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: Most mutants.
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate:
 * In Plague
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate:
 * In Plague

"Grant: Cheerful line-up, eh? Gone, Hunger, Lies, and Plague. Ah, good times in the FAYZ.""
 * Also in Plague,
 * I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: One of Dekka's reasons for not telling Brianna she loves her.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: It's really hard not to interpret Drake's comments to Astrid in Plague this way. Calling her beautiful, winking at her, promising to "come up and play" . . . those aren't usually preludes to whipping somebody's skin off. Of course, with Drake . ..
 * I Love Nuclear Power: one of the possible sources for the kids' superpowers. Justified because the series takes place in an Alternate Universe where the laws of science have been rewritten.
 * But the laws of science are only different in the FAYZ which was made by  who's powers may have come from the nuclear incident which means because nuclear power gives powers, nuclear power gives powers.
 * Imaginary Friend: Spidey is Toto's imaginary friend.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Dekka's crush on Brianna, who is straight.
 * Incurable Cough of Death: The eponymous sickness in Plague.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted, and how. Sam and some others find a dead baby inside an abandoned house.
 * It Got Worse: Lampshaded by Michael Grant in his blog.
 * It Got Worse: Lampshaded by Michael Grant in his blog.
 * It Got Worse: Lampshaded by Michael Grant in his blog.

"Virtue: I'm going to refuse to do puberty. It makes you stupid."
 * The defining characteristic of the series. If it gets better, it will get worse.
 * Jerkass: Caine in Plague.
 * Lack of Empathy: Drake. Also, Caine is becoming more this way by Lies.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Astrid has a habit of pointing out the techniques people use in their speech, e.g. "Rhetorical question" or "Defensive humor."
 * Little Miss Badass : Arguably, all the female cast, but especially Brianna, one of the youngest Action Girl of the series.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters : At the beginning of Hunger The list of people alive in Perdido Beach is at 332, and at least sixty names come up on a regular basis.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: This is parodied in Plague
 * Love Makes You Dumb: This is parodied in Plague

"Lana: Maybe you're attracted to dangerous unbalanced people, but listen up: I'm not Edward and you're not Bella. Sanjit: I don't understand what that means."
 * Meaningful Name: The series has a thing for Biblical names: Caine, Mother Mary and Brother John taking care of the children, etc.
 * Also, Lana "Lazur" rising from fatal injuries.
 * "Drake" means "dragon".
 * Minimalistic Cover Art: The UK/Aus/NZ editions give a much more foreboding feel to the books. The image doesn't even do it justice: the author's name is only visible because of its gloss on an otherwise matte cover.
 * Morality Pet: Diana for Caine, although their relationship does show some abusive patterns on both sides.
 * Muggle Born of Mages: Quinn resents the other powered kids out of a conflicting mix of jealousy and xenophobia.
 * Mr. Vice Guy : After the events of Hunger, Lana picks up smoking and drinking.
 * Muggle Power: The Human Crew is a type 2.
 * Muggles: The non-powered kids.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Caine Sorren, Drake Merwin, Orc, Mallet, , Zil,.
 * Narrative Profanity Filter
 * A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Human Crew.
 * No Bisexuals: Sexual orientation is pretty much always discussed in terms of gay/straight, with no indication that someone could be in between.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Drake whips Sam so badly his skin is in tatters and is in so much pain he is praying for death, even after being injected with morphine.
 * Not Quite Dead:
 * Played with with  He gets (presumably) killed by Caine in Hunger, but returns in Lies   Who is also a case, as she gets both legs broken and shot in the chest, yet can't be killed.
 * Not Using the Z Word: Everyone to Brittney in Lies, though Howard just comes out and says it.
 * One Person, One Power
 * One Word Title: Each book has one.
 * Only Fatal to Adults: The premise of the story.
 * Only Sane Man: Edilio.
 * Parental Abandonment: EVERYONE.
 * The Plague: There are two of them in Plague.
 * Playing with Fire: The little girl at the beginning of the first book.
 * Personality Powers: Some of kids gain powers based on their fears, such as how Sam makes light, and is afraid of the dark.
 * Caine  developed powers to impress Diana; Lana   gained their powers to survive the coyotes.
 * Bug gained his powers in order to hide from his Abusive Parents.
 * Power Incontinence: Jack.
 * Power Palms : Most mutant's powers come from their hands.
 * Promotion to Parent: Basically everyone, but especially Mary.
 * Deconstructed with Sam, who gets so sick of playing the daddy that he quits. Astrid to Little Pete.
 * Pure Energy: Sam can shoot energy beams from his hands.
 * Race Against the Clock: You disappear when you turn exactly 15 years old. Not a big deal for the little kids, but Sam turns fifteen in eleven days...
 * Rage Against the Heavens: Quinn initially blames God for the FAYZ, much to the chagrin of Astrid, who's a practicing Catholic.
 * Random Power Ranking: Diana, from Coates Academy, has the ability to sense the strength of people's powers. She gives people a ranking in "bars", like the strength of a cellphone signal. Normally they range from 1 to 4,
 * Random Teleportation: It's random to everyone but Little Pete.
 * Released to Elsewhere: People who turn 15 inside the FAYZ  disappear. Nobody knows whether they go outside the FAYZ, they go to another dimension, or if they even surive.
 * It's revealed what happens in Fear..
 * Reluctant Hero: Sam
 * Reality Warper: It appears that Little Pete may be one of these, which means that the most powerful person in Perdido Beach is a severely autistic four-year-old.
 * Running Gag:
 * Separated at Birth:
 * Sharing a Body:
 * Shout-Out: Most of the place names seen on the map are references to works or TV shows related to the themes of the series, such as Stefano Rey National Park (Stephen King -- Under the Dome), the Santa Katrina Hills (KA Applegate -- Grant's wife), Grant Street (Michael Grant -- Gone), Golding Street (William Golding -- Lord of the Flies), and even the town name of Perdido Beach (Lost).
 * The illusion uses on Quinn is the monster from Cloverfield.
 * Sickly Green Glow: Averted AND played straight.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Lana in Lies. Justified because she can heal herself of any damage caused.
 * Smug Snake: Zil Sperry hates all but one of his teammates, resents not being recognized as a formidable antagonist, and  Very smug, very irritating, and, in the end, pretty worthless.
 * Somebody Else's Problem: The attitude of 90% of the Perdido Beach kids.
 * Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: A lot of characters.
 * Speech-Impaired Animal: Pack Leader, in a non-comedic way.
 * Starfish Aliens: The gaiaphage.
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero: Mary and her brother John become foster parents for pretty much all children under five. Eventually they earn the nicknames Mother Mary and Brother John.
 * Stock Super Powers:
 * Astrid: Can tell a person's potential.
 * Brianna: Super Speed
 * Brittney:
 * Bug: Invisibility
 * Caine: Mind Over Matter
 * Darla: Intangible Man
 * Dekka: Gravity Master
 * Diana: Can gauge the powers of others.
 * Drake:
 * Duck: Can increase/decrease his density.
 * Hunter: Radiation
 * Jack: Super Strength
 * Jill: Enthralling Siren
 * Lana: Healing Hands
 * Little Pete: Many undiscovered, but as of Plague, Teleportation, and can make things disappear. Later becomes a full-on
 * Orc:
 * Orsay: Can see the dreams of others.
 * Penny: Master of Illusion
 * Sam: Light'Em Up
 * Taylor: Teleportation
 * Toto: Living Lie Detector
 * Superpower Meltdown: The going theory is that . Later
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo : Nerezza. She is described as an extremly beautiful girl with long black hair. Oh, and . Diana, too.
 * Take That:
 * Sam: Light'Em Up
 * Taylor: Teleportation
 * Toto: Living Lie Detector
 * Superpower Meltdown: The going theory is that . Later
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo : Nerezza. She is described as an extremly beautiful girl with long black hair. Oh, and . Diana, too.
 * Take That:

"Diana: This isn't the movies, Caine. He looked like roadkill."
 * Teen Pregnancy:  Lord help us.
 * Teenage Wasteland
 * The Bechdel Test: All four books pass the test.
 * The Stoic: Edilio, with occasional but effective Not So Stoic moments.
 * The Wall Around the World: The impenetrable FAYZ Wall which surrounds the area.
 * Third Option Love Interest: Over the first three books there were hints at a possible love triange between Quinn, Lana and Edilio. In Plague
 * This Is Reality
 * This Is Reality

"Dekka: I'm black and I'm lesbian, so believe me, there are always lines."
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The series has been described by critics as "Lord of the Flies by way of Stephen King".
 * Tsundere: Diana, when she's around Caine.
 * Twofer Token Minority: Dekka is a black lesbian. And a Moof, which makes her threefer in the novel's universe. She lampshades it.


 * Unusual Chapter Numbers: The chapters come with a countdown of days, hours, minutes, and seconds to the climax of the book.
 * Unusual Euphemism: The kids come up with a few terms to describe what happens when . Some of the more frequently-used ones are "poof", "blink", and "make the jump". Basically, they're all just euphemisms for.
 * Villainous BSOD: Caine during the period between Gone and Hunger.
 * Welcome Back, Traitor: To Jack in Hunger.
 * Who Names Their Kid "Brother"?: Emily's... brother Brother, from Lies.
 * A lot of names come under this. Duck, Zil and for starters.
 * Would Hurt a Child: Drake! He kills anyone who gets in the way of what he wants . Or just gets in his way. Or just for the fun of it.
 * This may count for everyone, because when you think about it, they're all just kids!
 * Unfazed Everyman: Quinn
 * You Fail Biology Forever: Lampshaded when Astrid points out that there is no gene for shooting lasers out of your hands. Justified, however,