Dark Eden by Patrick Carman

This is the first novel in the Dark Eden series by Patrick Carman. 

15-year-old Will Besting has an uncontrollable fear that his doctor, Dr. Stevens, could not cure in over 2 years. To try and help Will, Dr. Stevens sends Will and 6 other teenagers (all of which are 15) to Fort Eden and a doctor named Rainsford.

When the group of teenagers start walking to Fort Eden, though, Will gets a terrible feeling about the place and decides to stay on his own.

After finding shelter in a different building, Will uncovers a bomb shelter which holds monitor screens recording certain rooms where the other 6 teenagers reside.

Will is not the only one with an unexplained fear. Each of the teenagers (Connor, Kate, Avery, Marisa, Alex, and Ben) have their own fears that they are going to try to be cured from.

Ben was the first to get cured, and Will watched the whole procedure. After watching each teenager get cured, Will decided that he didn't want to get cured - he wanted to get out of Fort Eden as quickly as possible.

Before Will could do that, though, Marisa went to get cured. Will wanted to stop her because he developed a crush on her, but he was too late.

Just when Will was going to leave, he found himself in his own room to become cured. Rainsford had to make special circumstances with Will because of his unique fear.

The thing about being cured, though? None of the patients could remember what had happened. They just knew that they were cured and didn't question it.

Except Will. He remembered everything. And when he was presented by more disturbing information, Will had to decide on what to do with that information.

Did everyone make it out okay from Fort Eden? Or is there something bigger going on than the 7 teenagers getting cured? Read Dark Eden to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a very interesting novel. I liked the premises before I read the book - a group of teenagers going away to be cured from their all-consuming fear.

I also liked that this was narrated by a teen guy - Will. I said at the beginning of 2012 that I wanted to read more guy narrations (which I haven't done a very good job of) so this was a great novel to read!

There was a lot of mystery in this book as to what Fort Eden was all about, what each of the 7 teenagers fears were, and how each teenager were being cured from their fear.

With Will, the reader didn't find out his fear until the middle of the book, so while he seemed like a normal boy, the reader was still reminded that there was something off about him.

He had great survival instincts, though. He brought necessary items in case he went off on his own and he is a very smart boy - only 15 and was taking freshmen college classes.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel! It was definitely something different for me and not my usual type of YA book, but I was lost into the mystery and suspense of this adventure.

There is a second novel, Eve of Destruction, which is now available and continues the story of the 7 teenagers.

I would recommend this novel to any teens, no matter the gender. I think it will appeal to both guys and girls because of the narration and the mysterious story that will capture the attention of any reader wanting a good mystery.