Tunnel Vision by Susan Adrian

Tunnel Vision
by Susan Adrian
Read: February 13 - 15, 2015
Published: January 20, 2015 by St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Kindle purchase
Category: YA, paranormal, male narrator, mental/psychic abilities
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Book Description: Romance and action come crashing together when a teenage boy with incredible powers is brought to the attention of the government.

Jake Lukin just turned 18. He's decent at tennis and Halo, and waiting to hear on his app to Stanford. But he's also being followed by a creep with a gun, and there's a DARPA agent waiting in his bedroom. His secret is blown.

When Jake holds a personal object, like a pet rock or a ring, he has the ability to "tunnel" into the owner. He can sense where they are, like a human GPS, and can see, hear, and feel what they do. It's an ability the government would do anything to possess: a perfect surveillance unit who could locate fugitives, spies, or terrorists with a single touch.

Jake promised his dad he’d never tell anyone about his ability. But his dad died two years ago, and Jake slipped. If he doesn't agree to help the government, his mother and sister may be in danger. Suddenly he's juggling high school, tennis tryouts, flirting with Rachel Watkins, and work as a government asset, complete with 24-hour bodyguards.

Forced to lie to his friends and family, and then to choose whether to give up everything for their safety, Jake hopes the good he's doing—finding kidnap victims and hostages, and tracking down terrorists—is worth it. But he starts to suspect the good guys may not be so good after all. With Rachel's help, Jake has to try to escape both good guys and bad guys and find a way to live his own life instead of tunneling through others.
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Set-up
Jacob Lukin is a senior in high school. He likes to play video games with his best friend Chris, is excited about college in the fall, and really likes a girl in his class named Rachel. He's basically a regular guy, except for one extraordinary talent. If Jake is holding an object that belongs to someone else, he can "tunnel" to them. He can tell you where the person is in the world and what they're doing at this exact moment. 

However, when Jake was little, his dad told him never to show anyone what he could do, because bad things would happen to him. Jake kept that promise, except for the one time he got drunk at a party and shared it with some of his close friends. Now the government wants Jake to work for them, and he doesn't really have a choice if he wants to keep his family safe. But it's hard to keep his new role a secret while living his normal life. 

My thoughts
Tunnel Vision was so much fun! I really enjoyed the narrator Jake, especially. He starts off as a normal high school kid with regular concerns. His ability is just a cool talent he has. But when the government finds out what Jake can do, his ability becomes Very Important and Jake gets thrown into a world that he doesn't understand at all. He's quite naive at first and in way over his head. But one of my favorite parts of this story is seeing Jake grow up through it all. Although it takes him some time - and me some frustration - Jake ends up being highly adaptable and resourceful. He learns to navigate some very sticky situations and becomes quite badass by the end. But he's still relatable and likable through the entire story. Author Susan Adrian did a great job capturing Jake's voice, showing his character growth and making me care for him throughout the book. 

This book also has some great secondary characters, and I loved Jake's sister Myka and his grandfather Dedushka the most. It seemed like Dedushka, was going to be more of a comic relief character, but he added a lot of depth and perspective to this story. Although the character who surprised me the most was Eric. I like that his story arc added complexity to the overall book, especially in terms of the uneasy situation Jake gets himself into. To that end, I appreciated that we were able to see both the benefit and danger of an ability like Jake's, and why people would want so much to be able to use it. But it makes Jake so incredibly valuable and coveted that it completely alters his life too. 

We do eventually get some answers about the origins of Jake's tunneling ability, which is pretty cool and also freaky. I was worried it would be a random phenomenon at first, and I don't really like supernatural abilities that have no context, but Jake's ability to tunnel ends up having an intriguing background. If this story continues into a series, I'd love to find out more about this element. 

For romance fans, this book contains a very mild love story, which was sweet, although it was not central to the plot. It is present in the beginning and then picks up again later, but sort of abruptly. I'm always a fan of the inclusion a love story element, but I do wish we'd gotten to know Rachel better. However, I did really like what we saw of her. Especially that we were able to see reasons why Rachel and Jake are a good fit, in that they compliment and work together well. 

I do very much hope we will see another book about Jake to come! There's a lot left of this world that I'd like to explore. But I enjoyed this as a standalone if it stays that way. 

Love Triangle Factor: None
Cliffhanger scale: low but great potential for more story.