Masked (Super Heroes Undercover #1)

J.D.
Wright
Genre: 
Young Adult

PARANORMAL:  Vada is your run-of-the-mill teenager — she hates school, has a little brother who annoys her, two loving parents who embarrass her, and two best friends who have her back. Typical, right? Sure, except that she is telekinetic, her brother can become invisible, and her parents are two of Cyber City’s most famous supers. Even better, Vada is turning eighteen and she is ready to dive into the family business, which is exactly what she gets. 

 

When normals start turning into supers, supers begin being murdered, and her best friend goes missing, Vada is forced into action. As she tries to separate her super identity from her normal life, she must balance schoolwork with a life of crime fighting. While trying to save the city, Vada has to confront one of the world’s super-villains. So much for baby steps!

Masks, crime fighting, and super powers, oh my! “Masked” takes superheroes from the comic books and puts them into pure writing medium of a novel. The story’s greatest strengths are concept and plot development. It is not common for readers to find superheroes outside of graphic novels. Additionally, the reader is kept alert by the constant action and new “twists.” However, where the story falls short is the writing and characters. The author relies more on narration and less on characters’ body language and dialogue to inform the reader what is occurring in the novel. Characters’ personalities were not consistent and usually came off very flat. One hopes the author will learn to rely on more than plot — to show more than tell — but "Masked" is still a story worth reading.

Jacey Lee