The Special Ones

Starred review from May 15, 2017
A teenage girl struggles to survive as one of four young spiritual guides held captive by a mysterious cult leader in this chiller from Australia.Esther lives on a secluded farm with three other young people, all of whom are allowed varying degrees of freedom to move about the farm. Esther is not allowed to leave the front porch of the farmhouse, ever. She knows she's being watched at all times by him, a demanding and cruel unnamed captor who holds Esther and the others against their will, forcing them to portray the Special Ones, virtual spiritual guides for people seeking self-improvement. (The Special Ones are all white.) Followers of The Special Ones tune in nightly via internet chat to ask for advice, but Esther knows that she and the others are faking. They're just regular kids. But if they don't follow his weird and ritualistic rules, they risk punishment. The ultimate punishment is "renewal"--being taken away from the farm and never seen again. As daily survival becomes more challenging, the pressure mounts for Esther to keep up the ruse or face the uncertainty of renewal and his judgment. Riveting from the very first chapter, Esther's story is unpredictable and chilling, her narration viscerally revealing the quiet terrors of captivity and brainwashing. The Special Ones don't really have any special wisdom, but the characters--even him--are unforgettable. A complex, enthralling page-turner. (Thriller. 12-17)

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April 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-The Special Ones are always being watched. That's why Esther has to work so hard to play her part. If He finds out she's not really Special, he'll renew her and she'll be replaced. No one knows what happens to the ones who are renewed, so Esther plays her part each day and answers questions from the followers each night. There are four Special Ones living on a remote farm, insulated from the evils that lurk in the outside world, such as Police Officers, Security Guards, and parents-evil people who are all waiting to force the four of them to reenter lives that aren't really theirs. This modern-day psychological thriller is as gripping and intense as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. Readers will anxiously look for clues that the four teenagers are not really as brainwashed as they seem and cheer when they're able to break away from their life of captivity. While the plot may require some suspension of disbelief, complex characters and well-written dialogue will keep readers turning pages until the breathtaking conclusion. VERDICT A must-have for YA collections, especially where thrillers are popular.-Sunnie Scarpa, Wallingford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017
In this hair-raising Australian import, Esther's unnerving first-person voice introduces the Special Ones. She, Harry, Lucille, and Felicity live on a secluded farm, brainwashed into believing they have been reincarnated, and where they are forced to perform antiquated chores and cultish rituals under constant surveillance by an unseen him. Yet despite the old-timey lifestyle, the Special Ones' main task is providing spiritual guidance to their internet followers, a seeming anachronism that deepens the creepiness. As stoic Esther reveals snippets about her pre-Special Ones life, her forbidden attraction to Harry, and, especially, her fear of him, readers' empathy for her builds. And though Esther's complicity in the collection (kidnapping) and reintroduction (brainwashing) of a new prisoner after Lucille is renewed (at best, reentering the world; at worst, killed) is disturbing, it evinces his control over her. Esther is devastated when Harry is renewed, but soon after comes her own renewal notice, leading to a dramatic shift in events--and in the narrative. Though this sharp midpoint plot-turn makes the novel feel like two different stories, the shift is clearly intentional and helps define the book as an affecting study of psychological manipulation and emotional resilience. Bailey's (Shift, rev. 5/12) latest thriller features an impressively eerie tone, goosebumps-inducing atmosphere, and genuine surprises. katrina hedeen

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 2, 2016
Four teens are prisoners on an Amish-style estate, forced to discard their true identities to play the roles that keep their online viewers fascinated. Their captor, the mysterious he, monitors their every move, keeping Esther and her companions in a state of terrified hypervigilance. Esther is the focus both of the narrative and his obsessions. Inside she is one thing: a trapped teenage girl who is conflicted by her feelings for Harry, the only boy in the house. Outside she is The Esther: steady and unemotional. The trauma of this split in her identity lies at the heart of her complex character. Em Bailey’s second YA novel is an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and readers of Bailey’s debut Shift will recognise her tendency to use everyday anxieties as her starting point, skilfully increasing the tension until it becomes almost unbearable. Sitting alongside recent books such as Risk and Cry Blue Murder, The Special Ones contributes to the gradual return of the YA thriller. If the appeal of the genre lies in its ability to push boundaries, explore themes with contemporary relevance, and above all, offer readers a thrill that they wouldn’t find elsewhere, then Bailey’s latest fits the bill. Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne writer and reviewer and the schools coordinator for the Stella Prize  

Starred review from July 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Esther's spent the last two years confined to an isolated farmhouse with no running water, no privacy, and no escape. Esther and her fellow prisoners are Special Ones, alleged reincarnations of four immortal beings, and they must play their parts with painstaking accuracy. They'd better: their anonymous captor ( him ) is watching, gaping through cameras, administering verifications, and remotely regulating Internet chats between his captives and flocks of Special One devotees. Minor failings mean punishment, while bigger blunders mean renewal, with atrocities executed not by the captor but by the prisoners themselves. This exhausting show has kept Esther alive, but as order in the farmhouse crumbles, so too does her complacent facade. Dread snakes through every inch of this psychological thriller, and Bailey crafts characters with precision, unspooling complex character motivations (including those of him ), and, in heroine Esther, delivering a disquieting blend of uncertainty and glorious defiance. Bailey's sophomore effort is not without faultone plot device strains credulitybut taut prose, a slick story line, and more than a few startling twists will leave readers mesmerized. Exploring the muddy boundaries between compliance and choice, captivity and freedom, Bailey also manages to depict not only evil but also the minuscule moments of good that flicker alongside and in spite of it. Striking, subversive, and loaded with as much heart-pounding horror as heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
In this hair-raising Australian import, the Special Ones live on a secluded farm, brainwashed into believing they have been reincarnated; their main task is providing spiritual guidance to their internet followers. A sharp (clearly intentional) midpoint plot-turn helps define the book as an affecting study of psychological manipulation and emotional resilience. Bailey's latest thriller features an impressively eerie tone, goosebumps-inducing atmosphere, and genuine surprises.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)