Dead Water Zone

By Kenneth Oppel

It's been months since Paul has seen his younger brother, Sam.

Now Sam has completely disappeared.

Why?

The truth lies at the heart of Watertown, a polluted slum afloat in the city's toxic harbour, where Sam has been working as a research assistant. Paul goes there to find his brother--and encounters people who will do anything to stop him. Can Paul find out the truth? Or does the dead water zone devour everyone who dares to enter it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Nov 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781443411240

Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and been adapted as an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s literature; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by the London Times. He is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, Such Wicked Intent, and The Boundless. Born on Canada’s Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Canada; in England and Ireland; and now resides in Toronto with his wife and children. Visit him at KennethOppel.ca.

Reviews for Dead Water Zone

[ffortuna_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finished Reading Add a dateReviewThis book has stuck with me for more than ten years. Re-reading, I was slightly alarmed at the writing style -- it's really not very good at all. This was one of Oppel's earliest books, and it definitely shows. The characters are somewhere in their teens, and often act younger, but then talk like roles in a play. They each have a single motivation, and occasionally reveal things about that motivation in brief speeches that are meant to sound emotional. That said, I can definitely see why the imagery stuck with me so long. That part is really, really good. The key images seemed just the same the second time, bodies changed by the water, terrible and yet strangely glorified. The water as something with a compelling aura even to the reader. Some of the themes are clunky and obvious, but there are also threads of a strange sibling relationship based on adolescents' fascination with their own bodies. Rivalry, codependence, the strange way people blame a sick person for being sick. I can't say if I'd like the book as much if I was discovering it as an adult, but I'm glad to have re-read it.