YA Review: Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

Holt Hawkins is one of the lucky ones. Eight years ago aliens known as The Assembly invaded Earth and easily overpowered the adults by sending out 'the tone,' which corrupted the minds of nearly everyone over the age of about 20. Those affected simply walked away from everything: jobs, families, and military posts and headed toward waiting Assembly ships never to return. The kids who were left also eventually succumb when they are old enough, but not Holt. For some reason, he is heedless: the tone has no effect on him. Holt is a teenage bounty hunter, tracking Mira Toombs for a large reward. But while on her trail, Holt also discovers Zoey, a young girl with no memory of her past and strange powers that reveal themselves more frequency the longer they are together. To collect the bounty, Holt must get Mira to Midnight City, a secret underground enclave full of kids and teenagers who have yet to succumb to the tone. However, through their adventures along the way, battling alien gunships, drowned zombies, and teenage pirates, Holt comes to see Mira as more than a bounty and Zoey as more than a rescued child holding him back.

Midnight City is the first of a series, and it is part swashbuckling adventure, part alien resistance, and part mystery (who is Zoey, really? and why are the aliens so keen to get her back?) At 374 pages in hardcover, this is a longer title than casual readers may be used to. The action will appeal to young men and some below-grade readers (although the length might be a turn-off for them), and the strong female lead, Mira, will hopefully draw in young women.  Midnight City might not find widespread popularity, but this will satisfy fans of a number of different genres.