An action-packed page-turner The Undercurrent is a stand-alone near future thriller from Paula Weston, author of the much-admired Rephaim series (Shadows, Haze, Shimmer and Burn).

Eighteen-year-old Julianne De Marchi is different. As in: she has an electrical undercurrent beneath her skin that stings and surges like a live wire. She can use it to spark a fire, maybe even end a life but she doesn’t understand what it is. And she can barely control it, especially when she’s anxious.

Ryan Walsh was on track for a stellar football career when his knee blew out. Now he’s a soldier part of an experimental privatised military unit that has identified Jules De Marchi as a threat. Is it because of the weird undercurrent she’s tried so hard to hide? Or because of her mother Angie’s history as an activist against bio-engineering and big business?

It’s no coincidence that Ryan and Jules are in the same place at the same time he’s under orders to follow her, after all. But then an explosive attack on a city building by an unknown enemy throws them together in the most violent and unexpected way.

Paula Weston, author of the much-admired Rephaim series, returns with a standalone work: a near futuristic thriller that is utterly and undeniably thrilling. Great writing, heart-burning characters, probing questions about where technology is taking us - and a plot that zips and zings like an electrical current itself. This is a great young-adult writer at the peak of her powers.