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Mind Gap
Fourteen-year-old Jake MacRaes life is spinning out of control. Hes making all the wrong choices gambling, drinking, hanging around gang members and now hes been asked to make a special delivery. What should he do? Jake knows either way that his decision will seal his fate, but what he doesnt realize is that this choice might not only destroy his life but the lives of those close to him.
Before Jake has a chance to make up his mind, he receives a mysterious text message inviting him to a flash party on a midnight subway train. As Jake steps off the platform and onto the ghostly 1950s-style Gloucester car, he has no idea he has just boarded a train bound for his worst nightmare. And whats more he cant get off!
Before Jake has a chance to make up his mind, he receives a mysterious text message inviting him to a flash party on a midnight subway train. As Jake steps off the platform and onto the ghostly 1950s-style Gloucester car, he has no idea he has just boarded a train bound for his worst nightmare. And whats more he cant get off!
- GenresYoung Adult
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
2 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Marina Cohen
22 books123 followersMarina Cohen is the author of several horror and fantasy books for children and young teens. Her novels THE INN BETWEEN, THE DOLL'S EYE, A BOX OF BONES and SHADOW GRAVE have been nominated for various awards in Canada and the United States including, The Sunburst Award, The Ontario Library Association's Red Maple and Silver Birch Awards, The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, The Rocky Mountain Book Award, The Manitoba Young Reacher's Choice Award, and The Pacific Northwest Library Association Children's Choice Award. THE INN BETWEEN and A BOX OF BONES and SHADOW GRAVE are also Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.
Marina loves old castles, hot cocoa, mysterious doors of all shapes and sizes, gingerbread and all things dark and creepy. She spends far too much time asking herself "What if?"
Marina loves old castles, hot cocoa, mysterious doors of all shapes and sizes, gingerbread and all things dark and creepy. She spends far too much time asking herself "What if?"
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 15, 2019
Great story. They writer has her way to lose you and put you back in the track. Language wise is great as it orients the reader, especially immigrants to the Canadian environment in 90s. Highly recommended
June 16, 2018
I don't think I"ll write an in depth review for this book, like I usually do, but I definitely have a few things I want to mention about it.
Overall, I liked the story, and the premise of this book, but there were a few things that I found lacking, things that were missing that could have really put this over the edge into brilliance. Oh well.
So this is the story of a 14 year old kid who's struggling with the transition into adulthood and is on the wrong track in life, sneaking out for parties at night, gambling in school, etc. And one night, when sneaking out to go to a party, he instead ends up on a train that takes him back in time to see some of the events that led to his life being what it is. The train then does this whole "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of thing and shows this kid what his life would look like if continued down the path he was on, what will happen to his family, etc. It's very Christmas Carol like that, but that part I very much enjoyed. I wish they'd just expounded on how this shit actually happens though.
All his jaunts to not his own time, I was into those. When he went into the past, I couldn't help but thinking that I probably would do the same things if I were him, and go try to see people that were supposed to be a huge part of my life, but weren't.
SPOILER ALERT: (Read on at your own risk, cuz I fucking warned you)
The part with teh going back in time bit that bothered me wasn't the meeting of his dad, and it wasn't even the alteration of events, or Jake realizing that it might be his FAULT that his dad was never around because of his choices here, it was the way that his dad disappeared. And this is where the book didn't deliver as strongly as it could have, in my opinion. What exactly was it that happened to his dad, where did he actually go, and how does that work? Now I know it's still early on in the book, so we definitely wouldn't have gotten answers here, but I've read the thing, and I can tell you that nowhere were there answers to my burning questions.
I can suspend disbelief enough to just go with it in regards to the magic train that makes people have this "ghost of whatever time of their life" experience, but I did want to know more about HOW it worked. Specifically, what the fuck happened to Jake's dad and how. In the end, if he existed enough to go through that, how come he didn't exist enough to be seen by anyone else, and could he be seen by anyone in the train station when he was supposedly just some bum? What's up with the other people on the train? Who are they, where'd they come from, how'd they wind up trapped there? These are the things that I wanted to know about, and if I'd gotten them, this would have been a book I LOVED.
As it stands now, the book is a cute cautionary tale about putting yourself on the right path and I think for some teens, this story could be helpful, and even to the point that for kids that are LIKE Jake, and need to read this book to maybe see themselves in it, and get back on the right path, more world-building, or any actually, would only hurt that cause cuz it would clutter the message. But for me, and I think a lot of the people who read YA for fun, if this book had done exactly what it did, wit the cautionary tale, but also added in some actual character development and delved into the train and the little world there, this could have become a really cool pseudo-fantasy, magical realism/contemporary tale. And it could have still been about a boy who needs to get back on the right path, but it also could have been more exciting, suspenseful, maybe, depending on how those questions were answered, it even could have contained more horror.
I dunno, I suppose in the end, probably the aim of this book was just what it read as, a short, easy and simple book about a boy who had an experience that pushes him to get his shit together, and for the kids who can relate to the story and learn something from it, I bet it's perfect just as is. Maybe it's me, and maybe it's just another case of "decent book, wrong reader," because I just wanted something MORE, and I think this idea, this story, had the potential to BE more, and that would have been a pretty cool book. But in the end, I guess it just wasn't that book, and probably wasn't supposed to be, and I'm probably expecting too much.
Overall, I liked the story, and the premise of this book, but there were a few things that I found lacking, things that were missing that could have really put this over the edge into brilliance. Oh well.
So this is the story of a 14 year old kid who's struggling with the transition into adulthood and is on the wrong track in life, sneaking out for parties at night, gambling in school, etc. And one night, when sneaking out to go to a party, he instead ends up on a train that takes him back in time to see some of the events that led to his life being what it is. The train then does this whole "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of thing and shows this kid what his life would look like if continued down the path he was on, what will happen to his family, etc. It's very Christmas Carol like that, but that part I very much enjoyed. I wish they'd just expounded on how this shit actually happens though.
All his jaunts to not his own time, I was into those. When he went into the past, I couldn't help but thinking that I probably would do the same things if I were him, and go try to see people that were supposed to be a huge part of my life, but weren't.
SPOILER ALERT: (Read on at your own risk, cuz I fucking warned you)
The part with teh going back in time bit that bothered me wasn't the meeting of his dad, and it wasn't even the alteration of events, or Jake realizing that it might be his FAULT that his dad was never around because of his choices here, it was the way that his dad disappeared. And this is where the book didn't deliver as strongly as it could have, in my opinion. What exactly was it that happened to his dad, where did he actually go, and how does that work? Now I know it's still early on in the book, so we definitely wouldn't have gotten answers here, but I've read the thing, and I can tell you that nowhere were there answers to my burning questions.
I can suspend disbelief enough to just go with it in regards to the magic train that makes people have this "ghost of whatever time of their life" experience, but I did want to know more about HOW it worked. Specifically, what the fuck happened to Jake's dad and how. In the end, if he existed enough to go through that, how come he didn't exist enough to be seen by anyone else, and could he be seen by anyone in the train station when he was supposedly just some bum? What's up with the other people on the train? Who are they, where'd they come from, how'd they wind up trapped there? These are the things that I wanted to know about, and if I'd gotten them, this would have been a book I LOVED.
As it stands now, the book is a cute cautionary tale about putting yourself on the right path and I think for some teens, this story could be helpful, and even to the point that for kids that are LIKE Jake, and need to read this book to maybe see themselves in it, and get back on the right path, more world-building, or any actually, would only hurt that cause cuz it would clutter the message. But for me, and I think a lot of the people who read YA for fun, if this book had done exactly what it did, wit the cautionary tale, but also added in some actual character development and delved into the train and the little world there, this could have become a really cool pseudo-fantasy, magical realism/contemporary tale. And it could have still been about a boy who needs to get back on the right path, but it also could have been more exciting, suspenseful, maybe, depending on how those questions were answered, it even could have contained more horror.
I dunno, I suppose in the end, probably the aim of this book was just what it read as, a short, easy and simple book about a boy who had an experience that pushes him to get his shit together, and for the kids who can relate to the story and learn something from it, I bet it's perfect just as is. Maybe it's me, and maybe it's just another case of "decent book, wrong reader," because I just wanted something MORE, and I think this idea, this story, had the potential to BE more, and that would have been a pretty cool book. But in the end, I guess it just wasn't that book, and probably wasn't supposed to be, and I'm probably expecting too much.
Read
September 27, 2011Fourteen-year-old Jake is living on the edge. Nursing the bitterness of having been abandoned by his father years ago, he’s on the outs with his mom, and he’s just lost his little brother’s savings in a poker game. To make matters worse, now his best friend wants him to do “a favour” for the head of the local street gang. In the words of many adults, he’s been “making some bad choices.”
And he’s just about to make another one. As he sneaks out of his apartment at midnight to meet his best friend, Cole, at a “flash party,” little does he know that by stepping onto a Toronto subway car, he’s actually stepping into a true nightmare.
Jake’s ride becomes an adventure reminiscent of Ebenezer Scrooge’s in A Christmas Carol. As he encounters spectres of his past, present and future, Jake is forced to face the consequences of his choices, some of which deeply affect the people he loves. These experiences leave him scrambling back to reality to right his wrongs, but, thwarted by street punks, zombies and his own mistakes, he may be too late.
Fast-paced and compelling, this is a novel young readers will truly relate to. Marina Cohen’s well-crafted writing keeps the pages turning as we follow Jake on his journey through time. His emotional turmoil may be heightened by paranormal circumstances, but his feelings will be familiar to many readers. In the end, we see him move through his rage and powerlessness, toward something more like responsibility and empowerment. A satisfying read.
Reviewed by Darby Macnab in Canadian Children's Book News (Spring 2011, Vol. 34, No. 2)
And he’s just about to make another one. As he sneaks out of his apartment at midnight to meet his best friend, Cole, at a “flash party,” little does he know that by stepping onto a Toronto subway car, he’s actually stepping into a true nightmare.
Jake’s ride becomes an adventure reminiscent of Ebenezer Scrooge’s in A Christmas Carol. As he encounters spectres of his past, present and future, Jake is forced to face the consequences of his choices, some of which deeply affect the people he loves. These experiences leave him scrambling back to reality to right his wrongs, but, thwarted by street punks, zombies and his own mistakes, he may be too late.
Fast-paced and compelling, this is a novel young readers will truly relate to. Marina Cohen’s well-crafted writing keeps the pages turning as we follow Jake on his journey through time. His emotional turmoil may be heightened by paranormal circumstances, but his feelings will be familiar to many readers. In the end, we see him move through his rage and powerlessness, toward something more like responsibility and empowerment. A satisfying read.
Reviewed by Darby Macnab in Canadian Children's Book News (Spring 2011, Vol. 34, No. 2)
May 10, 2011
I've been on a bit of a thriller/mystery kick of late. First Bloodshot, then Mind Gap and finally Savage Season, not to mention two exciting new books that tumbled through the mail slot this past friday from Doubleday. To be fair I've always loved the genre, right from when I got my first Agatha Christie at age 10, but I forget about it from time to time, so it's nice when some great books come along to remind me what it is I love about the genre.
Jake is a confused 14 year old kid. Gambling, starting to get caught up with gang members, drinking, all the signs of a teen gone wrong. And then he gets a text for a party on a subway. But when a 1950's subway car pull into the station that appears to have his party on it, Jake couldn't possibly guess where this "party" is headed.
A fast paced mystery, Marina Cohen's tale jumps back and forth between the past and the future in a way not unlike scrooges adventures, except modernized. I liked the way her story rotated around a very small number of characters and shows how even seemingly small choices effect all of them in, sometimes, significant ways.
The one thing I would have liked more of though, was the explanation about Jake's father. I either missed something or it wasn't fully explained, because I didn't understand what had supposedly happened to him after he disappeared, and why. Other than that it was a well thought out book and an excellent example of a thriller for Middle school readers
Jake is a confused 14 year old kid. Gambling, starting to get caught up with gang members, drinking, all the signs of a teen gone wrong. And then he gets a text for a party on a subway. But when a 1950's subway car pull into the station that appears to have his party on it, Jake couldn't possibly guess where this "party" is headed.
A fast paced mystery, Marina Cohen's tale jumps back and forth between the past and the future in a way not unlike scrooges adventures, except modernized. I liked the way her story rotated around a very small number of characters and shows how even seemingly small choices effect all of them in, sometimes, significant ways.
The one thing I would have liked more of though, was the explanation about Jake's father. I either missed something or it wasn't fully explained, because I didn't understand what had supposedly happened to him after he disappeared, and why. Other than that it was a well thought out book and an excellent example of a thriller for Middle school readers
March 14, 2011
Excerpt from my review below. To read my full, in-depth review, go here: http://thebookpixie.blogspot.com/2011...
"Often, while reading Mind Gap, I envisioned Marina sitting down with her kids and reading them this book whenever she suspected them of planning something naughty. Mind you, though, it's not at all preachy, but instead cautionary and chilling. It really makes you think about the various paths your decisions can lead to................................................................
For what is still an undetermined reason, I had a problem with feeling slightly disconnected throughout part of Mind Gap. All I know is that reason had something to do with me; maybe because I'd read a really long book prior to this one or because I was working on my own. Most importantly, none of this was the book's fault and I still ended up thinking that it was a compelling and thrilling read and was able to grab hold of a connection part way through. I do recommend this, especially to fans of Cohen's previous YA, Ghost Ride. I'll be sure to be reading Mind Gap again later on down the road."
"Often, while reading Mind Gap, I envisioned Marina sitting down with her kids and reading them this book whenever she suspected them of planning something naughty. Mind you, though, it's not at all preachy, but instead cautionary and chilling. It really makes you think about the various paths your decisions can lead to................................................................
For what is still an undetermined reason, I had a problem with feeling slightly disconnected throughout part of Mind Gap. All I know is that reason had something to do with me; maybe because I'd read a really long book prior to this one or because I was working on my own. Most importantly, none of this was the book's fault and I still ended up thinking that it was a compelling and thrilling read and was able to grab hold of a connection part way through. I do recommend this, especially to fans of Cohen's previous YA, Ghost Ride. I'll be sure to be reading Mind Gap again later on down the road."
February 10, 2012
A boy named Jake who dislikes his life because he is constantly getting yelled at by his mother for going out to much, and one night he gets a text message to a train party where the girl of his dreams is also attending. Knowing his mother will disapprove, he atepmts to sneak out of the house and board this midnight party train. He succeeds sneaking out of the house but just misses the closing train doors. But while he stands watching the train fly by another odd train stops right in front of him, thinking the train in front of him is the party train he boards, not knowing that the car he just boarded is haunted, whats worst is that he cant get off!!
I picked up this book because I've met the author and she gave me a summary of the book, which made me like the book.
I finished the book because during the book it makes you wonder what will happen next.
I recommend this book to Marco because I believe he'll enjoy this book alot.
I picked up this book because I've met the author and she gave me a summary of the book, which made me like the book.
I finished the book because during the book it makes you wonder what will happen next.
I recommend this book to Marco because I believe he'll enjoy this book alot.
March 16, 2011
If you're looking for a quick, fast paced read, Mind Gap would be an excellent choice. It's action from the start and doesn't stop until the last page. I tend to look at the page numbers quite frequently as I'm reading, and this was a rare case where I couldn't believe how quickly the pages were flying by!
Jake is on a bad path when he decides to go to a flash party on a train. What happens when he gets there sets in motion a nightmare that he nearly can't escape from. This book takes a little from other popular stories such as It's a Wonderful Life, but with a fresh take. I really enjoy reading "boy" books, and especially "boy in transition" books.
I really enjoyed Mind Gap! Mind Gap author Marina Cohen will be stopping by the blog next week, so keep an eye out for her post.
Jake is on a bad path when he decides to go to a flash party on a train. What happens when he gets there sets in motion a nightmare that he nearly can't escape from. This book takes a little from other popular stories such as It's a Wonderful Life, but with a fresh take. I really enjoy reading "boy" books, and especially "boy in transition" books.
I really enjoyed Mind Gap! Mind Gap author Marina Cohen will be stopping by the blog next week, so keep an eye out for her post.
December 4, 2011
14 year old Jake learns that everyone has to make choices in life. His choices nearly cost him his family when he thinks about doing a delivery for a gang. Luckily he gets warning signs and through a shift in time he is able to make the right decision to protect his family.
January 31, 2011
This fast-paced and tightly-written Canadian YA novel will have readers of all ages racing toward the end with bated breath. Great Gothic literature at it's best!
January 25, 2011
A fast-paced story that will hook relucant readers, and especially boys. There is also a solid lesson about making choices but the book never succumbs to being preachy.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews