This book will be a hit among middle grade kids looking for a thriller. I am more partial to Mullin’s other series, which is solidly in the YA camp. This book is a chunkster and will be a good fit for the voracious reader who you can’t recommend enough books! I have two copies for my classroom library and the students love that it’s a locally set book.

As an adult, I thought this was a well-written story but it also wasn't my cup of tea. I'm going to let my teenage girls read it. If they enjoy it, I'll update the review and post their thoughts on Goodreads and Amazon.

A fun adventurous read. My sons would love the adventure and thrill of the story. A highly enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy of Surface Tension by Mike Mullin.

Surface Tension is a action thriller about domestic terrorism for the YA set. It is told in alternating POV’s between Jake, an innocent bystander to an act of conspiracy that brings down a plane full of innocent victims and Betsy, a teenage member of the white supremacy group.

This book is non-stop action and will keep readers turning the pages as they see if Jake can convince the people he loves (his mother and girlfriend Laurissa) that someone is trying to kill him and try to figure out who he can trust in the police department and FBI.

I’m knocking a few points off for what felt like an overly complicated plot point that involves Jake and an FBI agent. I felt like it was a distraction from the main story and didn’t feel like a genuine interaction at all. If the author could have focused more on the terrorism group and tightened the storyline around their motivations, history and goals and dedicated less pages to this one FBI agent it would have felt a little more grounded in reality.

I actually rooted for Betsy who is truly a morally gray protagonist and hoped she could find the way to the light but at the same time wanted Jake to bring down the bad guys even those are diverging goals. There is a bit at the end that makes me think this isn’t the end for Betsy and there might be a sequel in the future.

I recommend this one to readers who want a fast paced political thriller that is a little light on politics but heavy on action. There are probably more realistic and researched novels but this one is fun and will keep you rooting for the young characters. I give it 3.75 rounded to to 4 for Goodreads.

Jake is on the way to become a pro bike rider. He has been riding and training for ages and he is good at it. But suddenly a life-threatening accident stops Jake in his tracks. A serious brain injury.

Jake cannot remember how he got there, or the accident. However when his "girlfriend" tries to kill him. Jake starts to think there is more to this than meets the eye.

Convincing his family is different though - they thought it was paranoia, and his imagination playing up. As when Jake's girlfriend turns up she looks nothing like the "girlfriend" that tried to kill him.

The FBI are hot on Jake's tail for information he does not have a clue about. So has Jake searches for the missing person, what does he find?

When I first started to read this book I was wondering what was going on. I was a bit confused. The synopsis says it was about Jake but he did not appear in the book straight away. But the more I read on, the more things began to clear.

I really enjoyed this book despite some parts being unrealistic and predictable. There is a lot of suspense built up in this book but for me the last couple of chapters for the book were a bit predictable.

The story is told by Jack and Betsy's point of view each taking it in turns to share their story.
Each bit we found out a bit about them and it is interesting to see.

However for me it feels like it has been left open for a sequel - which I would definitely love to read. To find out what happened to Betsy and her family.

A great action packed story, full of suspense.!

I enjoyed this book and thought it would be a good choice for a selection that could be provided to high school students, because there is such a dearth of novels that are exciting enough to appeal to young males. Surface Tension was an exciting story with lots of action and mystery. At times the plot pushed the envelope of the believable, as with many action/adventure stories.

I didn’t care for the twist at the end. I thought it was unnecessary, but it probably leads to a continuation of the story.

All in all, a good choice for adolescent readers...

Fast-paced, young adult mystery-thriller. Jake, a high schooler, is an avid bike rider is out training for his upcoming bike race when he stumbles upon a number of big, tanker trucks on the roadside. He is knocked unconscious and wakes up in one of the trucks listening to the occupants discuss how to kill him. Not waiting for their decision, he throws himself out of the moving truck onto the roadside which follows with him waking up in the hospital, unable to remember anything...not his mother or girlfriend even ring a bell. Betsy, the other main character, works for her father and the Sons of Paine (a group making it appear that Muslims are committing acts of domestic violence), and she wants to prove to them that she is an indispensable part of the team by completing her recent assignment of pretending to be his girlfriend and instead killing Jake, and masking the murder from anyone who is looking. Sadly she can not follow through. Jake's real girlfriend shows up confusing him further. As the story progresses, Jake is being targeted by these terrorists and on the run for his life. Lots of adventure and action follow with Jake determined to figure out what is really going on with a somewhat complicated story line involving conspiracies and criminal investigations. Great YA action novel with an interesting plot and great characters.

You really have to suspend belief for a lot of things in this book, I felt his series Ashfall was much better. I had a hard time with this one, it was okay but not great like Ashfall.

The story is good just not as realistic as I was expecting.

An action movie in book form, and as in most action movies, it's filled with stock characters and unbelievable situations. Important issues were introduced but not explored or were wrapped up too easily. And while it was good that the Muslim character wasn't the bad guy, his inclusion felt like tokenism: put in a good Muslim to counter Islamophobia. Still, for a reluctant reader who wants non-stop action, an adequate choice. Review based on an ARC through NetGalley.

My absolute favourite thing about this book was that it was written from both Jake's and Betsy povs. Jake is the kind of person we would want to be friends with, someone relatable and easy to like. Betsy is none of those things.
Every time I finished a chapter I hoped that I wasn't going to read a Betsy chapter, not because she was badly written but because reading from her pov was one of the most uncomfortable experiences ever due to her personal beliefs and lifestyle. Her chapters were my absolute favourites and a very big reason as to why this book was so good.
This is an important book for our times, with themes like justice, income inequality, racism, discrimination, and police corruption being just some of the things the characters have to deal with.
I also really liked that the author seemed to have done a lot of research on the characters respective fields of expertise because there was not one moment in which they sat back and simply hoped for everything to go well even when they did not know what they were doing.
Thank you to Net Galley and Tanglewood for this ARC.

This grabs you from the Chapter 1 and holds you until the last page. Jake has suffered a brain injury and no one believes what he is saying except his girlfriend, Larissa. While Jake can’t remember much at first, memories start coming back and he has to run for his life more than once. Who is going to believe a kid with a head injury when he says someone is trying to kill him?

This is well written and I really enjoyed it. Mike Mullin does a great job of capturing your attention and keeping it. The mystery woven into a thrilling plot makes Surface Tension a captivating read. My daughter had already started reading it as well and is caught up in the action.

I requested this book because I absolutely loved Mullin's <i>Ashfall</i> series, and based on those books knew that he could write gritty YA fiction that wasn't insipid.

This was a good enough thriller, with plenty of action throughout. The characterisations were great. Jake and Laurissa are excellent protagonists, and Mullin has portrayed a realistic and respectful relationship between the two. Betsy is also a great character, and all three are strong and resourceful, but also a bit stupid at times (giving the teens a a bit more realism).

Although fast-paced, there is quite a bit where you just have to suspend your disbelief and go with it. Some parts were rather monotonous (there are at least two chapters where Mullin describes the various phone calls they make, which made rather dull reading in the middle of all of the action). Ending was a bit of a let down and anti-climatic in comparison to the rest of the book.

Additionally, I'm knocking off a star for Mullin's rather lax use of the word 'spaz' - fuck's sake, it's 2018. There are plenty of other synonyms he could have used that do not have such negative and vile conotations attached to it.

Generally, this is an action-packed thriller with strong characters. Slightly absurd in places but as long as you don't delve too much into it, it's a fun read.

Jake is an ordinary boy who loves riding his bike. One morning, he's just riding his bike to explore. Little did he know, that morning will not only gets him to the hospital, but also gets him into the middle of terrorist attack plan. Betsy has always lived to please her father. One morning, she's just doing her job, to prove her worth to her father. When she unexpectedly has to deal with Jake, she finds herself questioning if what her father's wants her to do had always been right.

Written in two points of view, this story is easy to relate to. Each twist and turn just made it hard for me to put it down. The precise and to-the-point wording gets me more into the story. The mix of a little science into the mystery is getting the story more interesting. I recommend this book to fans of young adult mystery novels.

I voluntarily read and review a free copy of this book provided via NetGalley.

This is an edge-of-your-seat kind of book. Truely suspenseful. I love that the title becomes part of the plot twist and wow! That cliff-hanger ending has me wanting the next book soon.

This is another of those that I start without knowing much about. Even now it seems not many have read, or at least reviewed, this title. It's such a fun read and I love with author's ability with words!

This definitely had a fun plot and a lot of exciting and fun bits I didn't expect. The ending threw me and I didn't like It.

Ok, I'm just going to get this out of the way right up front. Surface Tension is no Ashfall. Then again... I have never really come across a YA novel that I found quite as gripping as Ashfall. Thats a pretty high standard to hold a book to.
That being said, Surface Tension is worth your time. It is still a fast paced, well researched adventure, like readers of Mullins have come to expect. You will not be disappointed as long as you do not set your expectations Ashfall levels.
These characters are strong, and curious and on a terrifying adventure that involves terrorism. Every young person will find something to relate to in the main character. He is obsessed with riding his bike, in a way that only a teenager can be passionate. Mike Mullins knows how to capture the human spirit and draw a reader in like few other authors.

Surface Tension fails as a suspense thriller. Mullin takes the craziness of a suspense thriller beyond the point of insane with characters who struggle to be heard in the midst of all noise and unbelievable scenarios, taking the suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point and shattering it.

Surface Tension by Mike Mullin
Could
Not
Put
This
Down!
When Jake accidentally witnesses the terrorist takedown of a plane killing everyone on board, he finds himself waking up in a hospital with no memories. As time goes on, his memories come back and the terrorists are determined to ensure he will not be talking anytime soon. One of my FAVORITE reads this summer! #SurfaceTension #NetGalley

Surface Tension (Hardcover)
by Mike Mullin
This is a scary concept going on home grown terrorist, prejudice confrontation, domestic violence, and religious persecution.
Jake is a young bike racer in the wrong place at the wrong time. He pedals into a road block of significant nature, that puts his life, his mother's life and his girl's life into jeopardy. It takes risk to change his life and fix the problem. He becomes a reluctant hero in the process.
The author looks into the perceptions of racism and the assumptions the majority of people perpetuate with the relationship between Jake and his girl. Jake is a poor white single parent child, his lady is the entire opposite.
This book relates in a unique way to the current US political atmosphere, with racial and religious tension at breaking point. The idea that home grown terrorists want to change America calling for military action against political and racial lines. There are many instances in the book that show how flawed this thinking is. The author reminds the reader that this racial and political stances is unsustainable.