Love is the Drug

July 28, 2014
Emily Bird knows what she’s supposed to do: graduate from her posh Washington, D.C., prep school; attend an Ivy League school; hold onto her appropriate boyfriend; keep her too-kinky hair chemically tamed; and assume her place among the elite. But a flu pandemic, which may be bioterrorism, means drones, tanks, quarantines, and more work for Emily’s parents—government scientists so busy that they don’t come home when Emily ends up in the hospital. That’s where Johnson’s story starts, with Emily under government observation, wondering whom to trust, and trying to figure out whether she’s ready to quit being good-girl Emily and become independent Bird. Johnson (The Summer Prince) blends high school drama, cloak-and-dagger intrigue, race and class inequities, coming of age, and a passionate love story, blending these disparate elements into a narrative that both requires and repays attention. Watching Bird make her way through a world filled with dangers—biological, political, personal—and find not just love, but also herself, makes for rewarding reading. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

Starred review from July 15, 2014
Lost memories, a deadly pandemic flu and the children of D.C.'s elite come together in this sophisticated bio-thriller.When Emily Bird wakes up in the hospital, the last thing she remembers is attending a party at a senator's home eight days earlier. She's told she had an accident after taking some bad designer drugs, but a threatening visit from a national security contractor whom Bird met at the party suggests the truth isn't so simple. Meanwhile, the entire Beltway is under an oppressive and all-too-believable quarantine and curfew thanks to a virulent new strain of flu. Bird's parents, two prominent black scientists, want her to avoid trouble after her misadventure, but she can't resist investigating. She finds an unlikely ally in Coffee, a diplomat's son who uses drugs and deals them to others but who also sees strength in Bird that she struggles to see in herself. Johnson, who astounded with her cyberpunk teen debut, The Summer Prince (2013), immerses readers in the complexities of Bird's world, especially her fraught relationship with her parents and the intersections of race and class at her elite prep school. The often lyrical third-person, present-tense narration, the compelling romance and the richly developed cast of characters elevate this novel far above more formulaic suspense fare.Utterly absorbing. (Suspense. 13 & up)

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July 1, 2014

Gr 10 Up-Her mother calls her Emily, but she calls herself by her last name, Bird, and so does Alonso, known as Coffee, the strangely compelling drug-dealer and diplomat's son who attends Bird's private Washington, DC, school. When Bird wakes up after eight days in a coma to discover she was drugged at a party and left with no memory of what happened, she turns to Coffee for help-even though the authorities, including the mysterious Roosevelt, insist that he was the one who poisoned her. But Emily suspects that Roosevelt, her boyfriend Paul, and possibly even her scientist parents are involved in a conspiracy: a conspiracy that is connected to the Venezuelan flu, a virus planted by terrorists that is currently killing hundreds of thousand around the globe. The author of The Summer Prince (Scholastic, 2013) writes beautifully, but the convoluted premise can be tough to swallow, and the lyrical quality of her writing does not always mesh with the high-octane plot. The story is strongest when following Bird, a self-described "assimilated" DC black girl, as she tries to stay true to herself amid not only the terror of the quarantine, but also the restrictive expectations and assumptions of her family and classmates. Teens looking for a fast-paced tale with diverse characters will find it in Johnson's latest offering.-Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014
Grades 9-12 The U.S is in a state of panic: a lethal flu virus has become a pandemic, and international conspiracy theories abound. Emily Bird, whose absent parents are scientists for the CIA, watches as her city of Washington, D.C., her elite private high school, and even her own home are quarantined. And while her community and the rest of the country fall into a tailspin, Bird has a much closer danger at hand: Roosevelt Davis, a homeland security agent, is threatening her and Coffee, the drug-dealing son of a Brazilian diplomat, to whom Bird has a moth-to-the-flame kind of attraction. What Bird knows about the virusor what Roosevelt thinks she knowsand what Coffee has done threaten their well-being more than any virus could. And somehow amid all the peril, Bird finds a self-awareness that has laid dormant her entire life. Johnson (The Summer Prince, 2013) has once again crafted a consuming story, this time intertwining politics, medicine, the idiosyncrasies of family and friendship ties, and one potentially fatal attraction. Riveting in both its pacing and plausibility.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2014
In the near future, the United States has been hit by a flu pandemic, thought to be an act of terrorism. Even at Emily Bird's prestigious, insulated private prep school, tensions and suspicions run high. When Bird wakes up from a coma after attending a strange government party, she doesn't know what secrets she has hidden from herself, or whom she can trust to find out. Bird turns to an enigmatic drug-dealer peer for help sifting through conspiracy theories and evading curfews for the truth. Whatever knowledge lies in her memory has drawn attention from a menacing operative, and she must choose between uncovering a dangerous mystery and protecting her own future. Johnson (The Summer Prince, rev. 3/13) combines evocative writing with the plot of a suspenseful thriller in her engaging, and character-driven, novel. Bird is a true-to-life teenage heroine. Her bewilderment in the midst of political duplicity balances the intricate plot with relatable concerns about love, family, and friendship. Plenty of drama within the diverse cast of supporting characters provides excellent social context for issues the whole country has to face. The metaphorical language can seem heavy-handed when featured in dialogue, but it also gives Bird a strong narrative voice and a vivid point of view. sarah berman

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2015
The near-future United States has been hit by a flu pandemic, thought to be an act of terrorism. When Emily Bird wakes up from a coma after attending a strange government party, she doesn't know what secrets she has hidden from herself, or whom she can trust. Johnson combines evocative writing with the plot of a suspenseful thriller in her engaging character-driven novel.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)