Coming Up In 2013 #1: ACID by Emma Pass

Over the last few Januarys I have run a feature on The Book Zone titled 'Coming Up in ...' where I asked authors with new stand-alone or first-in-series books due out in that year to write a short big-up about their new book. This seemed like quite a popular feature at the time and so I have decided to run it again this year, though maybe on a slightly smaller scale than last year as at times I struggled to keep up with the posts.

I am chuffed to be kicking off this year's feature with Emma Pass, telling us about her debut YA novel ACID. I first heard about ACID through the lovely people at Random House, and fell in love with the book cover the moment I saw it. I have a feeling that it will be one of my favourite book covers of 2013, and I am sure that the story will be just as great. I'll now hand you over to Emma:

When I was 14, a friend and I challenged each other to write a story about someone trying to break out of jail in a future world controlled by a sinister authority. I only wrote a few chapters before getting stuck and giving up, but the idea never left me. A few years ago, I decided to try writing the prison story idea as a YA novel, and ACID was born.

ACID stands for the Agency for Crime Investigation and Defence. It's 2113, and they rule the UK, now known as the Independent Republic of Britain, with an iron fist. Their LifePartnering scheme forces teenagers into marriage, and everything, down to where you live and what job you have, is decided for you. With everything and everybody watched at all times, the smallest step out of line can lead to your arrest. When the main character, Jenna Strong, was fifteen, ACID locked her up in a brutal, all-male super-prison for a terrible crime she struggles to remember. Two years later, she's broken out by a mysterious rebel group, and ends up on a mission to find out the truth about what happened to her.

The world of ACID was inspired by books like George Orwell's 1984, and reading a story the news a few years ago that the Shetland Islands apparently have more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco police department! I've tried to write a story that's dark, thrilling and full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the end, with a kick-ass heroine who'll appeal to anyone who's having withdrawal symptoms from The Hunger Games!