I love it when I have a good run with books that I enjoy, and Unraveling is no exception. Elizabeth Norris had me sucked in at the very start.The book revolves around Janelle Tenner and Ben Michaels. They meet up when Janelle is hit by a truck and killed, only Ben brings her back to life. From then on, it's a race against time to stop the world from being destroyed. There's a lot more to the plot then just that, but to know the full value of it, the best thing to do is read it. There's a lot of action and unexplainable deaths. The first thing that Elizabeth impressed me with was that the relationships between the characters were developed. Well, I think so anyway. There's something rather special about having a character where you can actually see the relationship between her parents. I've read too many books where the parents are rarely mentioned, but to see Janelle's interaction with them and to see the flaws of each parent was really cool to see. It showed an amazing amount of character development.There were signs of Janelle's character development as well. It showed in the books she liked, the fact that outside of school she had a hobby, a real one, not just one where the author decided to make one up just to say she gave the character depth. Janelle was a lifeguard and it was on her way home that she got hit by the truck.I love strong characters, ones that can look after themselves, and Janelle is one of them. This girl doesn't need any 'boy' to protect her. She can kick ass herself - thank you very much! And she does. There's a tender side to her as well, and it shows in her relationships with her mom and her brother. As you can tell, I really loved Janelle.Ben, the other main character, was an enigma. In a way, he broke a stereotype. He hung around with the 'stoners' - only he was super-smart. He acted the part of someone he isn't, but considering where he was from, it was hardly surprising. He was loyal and fiercely protective when he needed to be.The secondary characters were awesome as well. There was Janelle's father, who was a CounterIntelligence officer for the FBI. He was an absent, but very loving father. Janelle's mother, who suffered from Bi-Polar and was at home all the time, but, in her way, more absent than Janelle's father. Jared, Janelle's brother, who was extremely close to her.And Alex.I think it's only fair that I mention him as well because he played almost as big a part in the story as Ben did. He was the boy-next-door. Someone who had been Janelle's friend all his life. He wasn't a love interest - thankfully. He was just a very good friend, but he added something to the book. I really loved him.There were others of course, but I'd be going on forever if I mentioned them all.Now the nitpicks.I seriously doubt any father who worked for the FBI would bring his work home with him, let alone let his teenage daughter know about it. Or that she would be allowed at a crime scene. I know it was central to the plot, but no, I just can't imagine that ever happening.There were places in the book where I knew what was coming. It didn't happen very often, but I did want to mention it. And, I hate to say this, as much as I loved Ben, he came off as a little too perfect. He was good as a character, but there was something just little off about him - at least to me. Still, I still really enjoyed this book so it's the highest ranking from me.
