Natalie Irving is the teenage daughter of the world’s only invisible woman. Jadyn Irving is largely invisible from Natalie’s life as well, and because her mother has refused to work with the authorities for the public good, Natalie must also deal with living in the shadow of someone who is widely disliked as well as famous. Her one constant is body-gaurd Peter, but even he has a mysterious past he keeps secret from her. With no one to really trust, Natalie must decide whether to keep her own secrets when she suddenly manifests invisibility powers herself. Unfortunately someone else has noticed.

In this confident first novel, Neufeld takes a very down-to-earth view of what it might be like if people really had powers. The story is refreshingly free from even a whiff of super villains, focusing instead on the more mundane evils of petty classmates, cold parents, and merciless crime lords. Echoing the powers motif–and Peter’s desire to become a comic book artist–several pages of paneled artwork by Meister are scattered throughout the book. Although an interesting device and a cute nod to the book’s content, these pages do not actually add much to the story, simply representing graphically scenes that have already been described. Natalie narrates the tale but is mostly a reactive character, and beyond her relationships, readers do not learn much about her. As a coming-of-age story, the book is solid and fun, enlivened by the extra ingredients of superpowers, but it does not quite push beyond interesting to exciting.

~ Lisa Martincik

This review appears in the August 2008 issue of Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA). It is reprinted with permission of Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA).

Posted in Bowler Hat News, Review, Visibility.
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