The book Keep Close by Kristen Wade was odd in that it doesn’t follow the stereotype for the typical story about an alien invasion. I say that because it doesn’t reveal the existence of the aliens right away and instead builds the tension for a while before the reveal. The story is about two teenagers, Ren and Lee, and how they deal with the aftermath. Ren is out on a boat with part of her family, a younger brother and sister and their grandfather, when there is a massive meteor storm that causes immense damage to the ship. Receiving a bad head wound from the event Ren struggles to help her brother and grandfather save her little sister and any supplies they can reach while their boat slowly sinks. They are eventually rescued and taken to shore several weeks later only to discover that there is more to what is going on than meteor strikes. Lee was helping to keep an eye on several of his younger siblings and trying to rein in the antics of his older brother Fitz when the meteors first hit. Later, when he is out fishing trying to find food for his siblings he watches as several of his younger sibling seem to disappear in a strong gust of wind. Eventually, their stories connect when Ren and her family come to shore in the same town Lee and his family live in. It is only then that it is revealed that the strong gusts of wind are aliens who seem to be taking anybody who is left alone for more than just a minute or two.
I actually rather liked this story as it was very well told and was an intriguing version of the slightly stereotypical young adult story about alien invasions. There were many elements that seemed to be rather familiar from that type of story, one or more teenagers struggling to take care of their families, specifically their younger siblings, in the aftermath of some kind of horrific event such as an alien invasion. Even the fact that there were several potential romantic prospects for Ren was something that came across as being a little familiar. However, there were several elements of the actual alien invasion that seemed to be pretty unique which was nice. The first one was that it wasn’t portrayed as an alien invasion at first and instead seemed to be this rather horrific natural disaster in the form of the meteors. Another one was that there was description of what these aliens looked like until way later in the book because there was no direct contact or communication with them throughout the book. They only appeared in the form of the strong gusts of wind that showed up whenever someone disappeared. This was a relatively unique depiction that I don’t think I have come across before. I like seeing new elements in stories as it shows a lot of originality. Perhaps the most intriguing is the lack of explanation about why the aliens are even here in the first place. With no communication with them there is nothing to indicate what they are doing or why they are doing it. All that is revealed is that they seem to focus on taking people who are alone, either physically or mentally, but nothing more than that. This creates an odd plotline as it makes the story read almost more like a survival story after an apocalypse of some sort than a survival story about an alien invasion. I rather liked the blend of plot types and genres that this creates. This is getting four out of five stars from me.
This was a rather good story and I kind of want to see if there is more to it than just this book. If you happen to enjoy a good science-fiction or post-apocalyptic novel than I suggest that you consider trying this book. I am not sure if it would hold a lot of appeal for those who don’t enjoy those genres. Another thing to keep in mind is this book is classified as young adult and you can tell that by reading it. I don’t see why that should stop adults from reading it but it is something to keep in mind. In terms of younger readers, there is some hints of romantic concepts primarily when following Ren’s viewpoint so that may be something to keep in mind as well. It is not enough to make the book unsuitable for anybody above the middle school age range though. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. This book was acquired through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.