The secret runners of New York by Matthew Reilly

Macmillian, 2019. ISBN: 9781760559076. Paperback, 352 pg.
(Age: Upper primary - Secondary) A must read for thriller and dystopian readers. Think of Gossip Girl meets Mad Max. The story is about a shy girl, Skye, who moves to New York with her brother Red. They move in with their mum's boyfriend in a very affluent building. Skye tries to keep her head down at school but gets caught up with the elite kids of New York. Within the group Skye and Red join, are the Secret Runners of New York group who can gain access to a ground portal that transports whoever enters to the future which was effected by a Gamma Cloud.
Matthew Reilly writes about everyday life of a teenager and how they cope in society, while every day is leading up to a Doomsday when a Gamma Cloud is going to appear to end the world as we know it. As the runners keep going through the porthole they realise that the Gamma Cloud is real and they see what happens in the future.
Overall, I found the book easy to read and enjoyable. I was hooked from the start wanting to know what happened to the missing females from the same school and whether Skye would become one of them as well.
In schools, some great discussions you could have with students would be about bullying within the school and how it affected kids. Another topic would be about the poor, middle class and the rich and how what happened in the world affected these people.
All up, I found The secret runners of New York a great read. I did laugh at the dedication at the front: 'This book is for everyone who went to high school... and survived.' Cause yes I'm one of those people.
Maria Komninos