Rippler (The Ripple Trilogy Book 1)

Cidney Swanson Website

Book Details: Written by Cidney Swanson. Publication June 15th, 2011. 289 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon

Synopsis of Rippler: Samantha, our protagonist, is a 16-year-old girl who discovers she can become invisible, or “ripple”. While on a white water rafting trip with her cross-country team she disappears from the boat causing everyone to panic and start searching for her in the water.  A close friend of hers named Will, sees her disappear and tells her she needs to become visible before everyone thinks she is dead in the water, so with no one else around Sam concentrates to show herself. Will tells her that he knows what just happened to her and that he will explain everything to her after their trip with their cross-country team.

Will informs Sam that his sister Mick has done research on a gene called Rippler’s Syndrome and he believes Sam has this gene. Will tells Sam as much as he can without his sister finding out and Sam finds out how dangerous it is to have this gene because there is an organization after anyone with this syndrome, even killing off Mick's old adviser causing Will and his sister to go into hiding. Sam goes on a day trip to Yosemite with Will and Mick, during their outing Sam relaxes by the water and accidentally ripples in front of Mick. Will's sister freaks out and yells at Will about how dangerous this is to be around someone else that ripples and she can’t believe he would tell someone he could ripple after he promised never to tell.  Sam is excited and slightly hurt that Will didn't tell her himself but she understands.

Once Mick has calmed down and promised she wont pack up their stuff to leave, she decides she can trust Sam too and tells her everything she knows. Sam finds out that Mick and Will receive letters from someone they trust in France discussing information about the organization behind all the deaths and kidnappings related to Rippler’s Syndrome. This gentleman, Sir Walter, feels it would be safer for them to join him in France.  Throughout the book it keeps jumping to a journal by the man who is the leader of this organization, Hellman.  It discusses his many experiments on young children in Nazi Germany, where he starved and poisoned them while gaining their trust and allegiance to him. Sam ends up seeing someone from her past when her mom was killed by a drunk driver and decides to follow him, what she discovers is shocking and she narrowly escapes from this unknown man and his associates. Things become very dangerous and secrets are revealed, causing Mick to try to leave town with her brother.

My Thoughts:  I really enjoyed the book!! Rippler jumps right into the story making you want to know what will happen next. Who doesn’t want the power of invisibility sometimes; think of what you could do.  Its not just becoming invisible, you can walk through walls and pretty much anything. I love the relationship of Will and his sister Mick, they may fight but they respect and love each other. Will and Sam are cute but Sam is too nervous to tell him how she really feels because she doesn’t want to lose a good friend. I love that the book jumps to this journal in Nazi Germany; I love when a book jumps around in time to give you more information. There is a lot going on in the story and much more to find out in the next book in the trilogy, Chameleon.