Review: Uncontrollable by SR Johannes

Uncontrollable (The Nature of Grace #2)
S.R. Johannes
September 24th, 2012
300 pages (Kindle edition)
Coleman & Stott
Source: Author

As Grace recovers from tragedy, her science class is chosen by Agent Sweeney at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to help with research on the new "Red Wolf Reintroduction Program".

While she’s excited about helping with the conservation of the endangered wolves, Grace knows this means being outdoors in the worst winter recorded, in a place she no longer feels comfortable. It also means working closely with Wyn (her ex) and his annoying girlfriend (Skyler), a girl whose idea of getting close to nature is picking silk plants and growing fake plants.

After a couple of wolves show up dead, Grace almost quits. However, when a fellow project team member goes missing, Grace continues the assignment under a renewed suspicion that someone might be sabotaging the conservation program. She quietly begins to hunt for clues.

Little does she know, she is being hunted too. 

When Grace is offered the chance to work on a project studying red wolves for extra credit, she jumps at the opportunity to get back into the woods and get her mind off the past. But what was supposed to be a simple project quickly goes wrong as wolves begin dying under mysterious circumstances and Grace  suspects that she's being watched by someone in the woods. Trying to survive the harsh winter is challenging enough, but Grace just might have to outwit an old enemy's malice too.

Once again, Johannes excels at creating a thrilling story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Grace's life has complicated since the last novel – her town blames her for its troubles, Wyn's angry, and she's lost two important people in her life. Thankfully, all the good qualities from the previous novel are still present, and Johannes demonstrates plenty of growth among Grace, her family, and her friends. And, as always, Johannes wraps everything up into one thrilling conclusion that will leave readers eager for another novel. All in all, Uncontrollable is great followup to Untraceable – this is one series worth checking out. 

Highlights: Even while I guessed the big twist early, Johannes threw a few more surprises my way. I love how important Grace's family became in Uncontrollable – loved Birdie! Nice descriptions of the settings. I love how the characters in this series are not perfect people. I'm glad the author didn't try to force a romance where it wouldn't work, even if one of the characters did want a relationship. The suspense, the danger, the excitement...it was so difficult to set this story aside. 

Lowlights: Compared to the previous novel, the finished version of this book seemed a bit unpolished - I found many simple errors that could have been caught with another edit. Grace jumped to conclusions again, (spoilerish) assuming everything was Al's doing. Also, I missed Mo and that romantic plot (I'm not a Wyn + Grace fan, regarding romance), but was glad to see Mo in the end.

Note: I think it might be possible to read this book without having read the first novel, but you'd be better off reading Untraceable first.

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