Like any good heist novel, the book is full of red herrings and surprise twists. A few select portions from the POV of Daniel, who has been captured by the dominus and placed under his control, are chilling. A dominus is rare, and when one appears on the page, it’s intense. The vaccine created seven distinct categories of superhumans: illusive (create illusions), mentalist (read minds), eidos (perfect recall), eludere (sharper senses), levitas (levitation), dauthus (physical power), and dominus (mind-control by way of hypnosis). In the tradition of Divergent, Illusive is a bit of a vocabulary lesson.

The only way to be free is to hide who you are – if that can be called freedom at all. Drawing a firmer parallel with the X-Men, the world Ciere finds herself in is one where people like her are hunted, recruited, and imprisoned. Our protagonist, Ciere, found herself with the ability to create illusions – including the ability to make herself nearly invisible. In a small percentage of the population, the vaccine caused peculiar side effects. Their powers derive from a vaccine that cured a deadly illness. It’s about a group of teens with special powers who carry out heists. Unlike many others, this one actually works. There is perhaps no better “meet” marketing pitch than the one for this book: X-Men meets Ocean’s Eleven. Putting something over on adults is a time-honored tradition for teens in literature, and I’m happy to report that Emily Lloyd-Jones’ debut, Illusive, is a a terrific addition to this noble genre. There was something very heady about a teen who deliberately broke the law – sometimes for a selfless reason, sometimes not – and got away with it, over and over again.

When I was a teen, I really liked reading about teenage criminals.

Illusive by emily lloyd jones