Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25

Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25
Author(s)	Richard Paul Evans
Country	United States of America
Language	English
Publisher	Simon & Schuster and Mercury Ink
Pages	336

Michael Vey is a novel by Richard Paul Evans, published in 2011 about Michael, a boy, who has Tourette's syndrome and discovers he has electrical powers, a gift he shares with Taylor. They discover that there are others like them and a secret organization, known as Elgen, wants to control their powers and the rest of the world. Together they must find a way for them to save their families and friends from Elgen. If they fail to stop Elgen, they risk the future of the human race.

Glenn Beck featured the book on his show and it is the first book published by his newly established company Mercury Ink.

Publication

Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 was published on August ninth of 2011. The publisher is Simon and Schuster and is meant for anyone over the age of twelve due to some scary aspects. ^[1] Richard Paul Evans called Glenn Beck, who had just started a publishing company, and told him about this great idea he had. At the time, Glenn Beck had been looking for a book that didn't have vampires, witches, or magic in it (although he is also a fan of books such as Harry Potter), so when Richard Paul Evans called him up, Glenn Beck read the book and wanted to publish it immediately.

Plot

The story is about Michael Vey, who is just a normal kid with Tourette's and gets bullied. But, Michael is different; he has the ability to pulse or surge electricity out of the palm of his hands. The only thing seemingly good going on his life is a cheerleader who talks to him. Michael gets beat up by Jack, Mitchell, and Wade as he is leaving the school and Taylor comes by ready to rescue, but Michael gets frustrated and electricity shoots out of his palm. Taylor confronts him about his powers the next day after school. She confesses that she has the ability to "reboot" people and that she can also read minds when she touches someone.

During the time period that Michael, Taylor, and other children were born, a machine was made supposedly better than a MRI by a company known as Elgen. The machine went under testing and out of the fifty-nine babies born in the time period only seventeen survived. Taylor and Michael are both awarded a scholarship by the prestigious Elgen Academy.

Michael tells his mom about the scholarship and she makes them leave the PizzaMax immediately, but on their way to the car, a man tries to rob them. Michael shocks him and another man with sunglasses, Dr. Hatch, steps out along with two other kids about Michael's age. Michael gets hit with an electric current and passes out. When he wakes up he is in a hospital and Ostin's mom tells him his mom has been kidnapped.

Taylor has been taken captive and she finds out she has an identical twin. Nichelle, one of Elgen's helpers, has the ability to suck energy out like a vampire and she tortures Taylor. The sunglasses Dr. Hatch wears help him see "The Glows," which is the name he has given kids like Michael and Taylor.

Taylor discovers the dark side to Dr. Hatch: he likes to use their powers for his own benefit and pleasure. Taylor disobeys him and gets put on floor D with three other kids. Michael shows up with the intent of rescuing his mom but he is unfortunately set up. Dr. Hatch tells Michael he killed his father and then he makes him choose between his own freedom and his friends. Taylor, Ostin, and the kids who also think torturing people is bad escape their cell only to be caught again. Michael is forced to choose between whom to shock: his mother or Wade, who were both taken for leverage, to prove his allegiance to Dr. Hatch. He doesn't shock either and is sent to Cell 25. Cell 25 is the torture cell for kids who don't follow Dr. Hatch. Michael escapes from Cell 25. He frees Taylor, McKenna, Abi, Jack, Wade, Zeus, Ian, and the human prisoners kept for experiments.

And the story continues in the next book.^[2]

Reviews

Glenn Beck said the book was exactly the type of book he wanted to publish for his company. He says that is will be "gigantic" because "it is so different." ^[3] On September 20, Hamlin Memorial Library of New York announces its new edition of Michael Vey. ^[4] And on that same day The Center Pointe Library at Center Point announced its addition of Michael Vey.^[5]

Honors

• Number one selling book in Barnes and Nobles, number 2 in Amazon.com^[6] for Michael Vey.
• On August 25, it was ranked number 38 on USA Today's best sellers.^[7]
• Michael Vey reached number Seven on the chart for USA Today in August. ^[8]
• The Salt Lake Tribune announced that Michael Vey made number seven on the Deseret Book for the week of Aug. 22 through Aug. 27 chart. ^[9]

Reference List

1. ^ Michael Vey Simon and Schuster 9 August 2011 http://series.simonandschuster.com/Michael-Vey/books
2. ^ Glenn Beck's new publishing co.- Mercury Ink- releases first novel- for teens The Examiner Gregory Dail 11 August 2011
3. ^ "Glenn interviews the author of Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25." Glenn Beck . Glenn Beck Tv: 09082011. Radio. 14 Sep 2011. <http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/08/09/glenn-interviews-the-author-of-michael-vey-the-prisoner-of-cell-25/>.
4. ^ "Hamlin Library announces new materials." Sun Journal . 20092011: n. page. Web. 21 Sep. 2011. <http://www.sunjournal.com/connections/story/1077941
5. ^ New In The Center Point Public Library ." Cedar Valley Times: The Daily Eagle . 20092011: n. page. Web. 21 Sep. 2011.
6. ^ It's Official: Glenn Beck Is The New King Of Book Publishing Buisness Insider Glynnis MacNicol 3 August 2011 http://www.businessinsider.com/glenn-beck-michael-vey-2011-8
7. ^ "USA TODAY BEST-SELLERS." USA Today. 08252011: n. page. Web. 21 Sep. 2011. <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/25/usa-today-best-sellers/>.
8. ^ Donahue, Deirdre. "Best-selling novelists dive into young adult genre." USA Today. 20092011: n. page. Web. 21 Sep. 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-09-19/grisham-picoult-gregory-young-adult-novels/50474590/1>.
9. ^ ""A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries" among best-sellers at Deseret Book ." Salt Lake Tribune . 06092011: n. page. Web. 21 Sep. 2011. <http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsburger/52530658-53/book-mormon-anita-aug.html.csp>.