Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 04/07/2025 Thirteen-year-old Xavier "Zay" Oak is on a weekend trip to a vacation cottage outside Montreal with his father and his pregnant stepmother when he notices that everything he thought he knew about the area has changed. The familiar nearby lake is gone, and in its place are a red barn, a pasture filled with goats, a cornfield, and other crops. As Zay and his parents investigate, they realize they’re alone and, further into the countryside, they discover an invisible wall, which seems to be part of a transparent, apparently indestructible dome. Failed attempts to escape the dome lead the trio to instead focus on survival. Three years later, another family appears: Tennessee teenager Mackenzie Jackson, her younger sister, and their parents. Zay is initially thrilled to meet someone his age-especially someone as pretty as Mackenzie-until Mackenzie’s father reveals himself to be a dangerous man with even more terrifying ideals. Oppel (Ghostlight) centers a persistent and intelligent protagonist in this unassuming but riveting novel. Compact yet brimming with tense atmosphere, it’s a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape. All characters cue as white save Zay’s Haitian Canadian stepmother. Ages 12-up. (June) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 05/01/2025 Gr 9 Up—Xavier Oaks, his father, and his very pregnant stepmother are enjoying a weekend at their lake house but wake up to find the lake gone and a farm in its place. Upon exploration, they realize that they're inside a transparent dome made from an impenetrable substance. Fast forward three years, and Xavier, 16, has a healthy brother, Noah, and has become quite the farmer. The Oaks assume (with no solid evidence) that they've been abducted by aliens. They long for home, but are making the best of things, when overnight, a new family arrives. Much to Xavier's excitement, this family includes a beautiful girl his age, Mackenzie, and her little sister, the perfect playmate for Noah. However, this family has a different theory about their abduction, and the father's fervent desire for escape could have grave consequences for the Oaks family. The story delves deeply into politically charged topics, including vaccines, pandemics, gun control, climate change, government conspiracies, and the "great replacement theory." Stereotypes on both sides of the political aisle are deftly explored through these characters, but above all, this is the definition of a page-turner. VERDICT A thought-provoking, uncomfortable thriller that readers won't be able to forget. Highly recommended.—Mandy Laferriere - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 05/01/2025 What was supposed to be a lighthearted family vacation to their cottage in the woods turns into a years-long nightmare. When Xavier; his father, Caleb; and pregnant stepmom, Nia become unexpectedly trapped under a dome, at first, they attempt to escape. Three years later, Xavier is still mourning the absence of the family members he left behind while still reconciling his feelings about Noah, his brother who has never known anything but the dome. The prevailing theory is aliens—that the dome is an experiment, and they’re the test subjects. When a family with staunchly different beliefs from the Oaks is dropped into the dome, complete with their own facsimile of a hunting lodge, the Oaks are optimistically cautious. At first, the Jacksons seem friendly enough, and their oldest daughter, Mackenzie, is certainly of interest to Xavier. But as tensions among the adults come to a head, it calls into question loyalty, beliefs, and what the idea of freedom really is. This fast-paced survival thriller is a timely work that calls reality into question. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.