Article 5

Ember's Miller's life has been fairly normal for the teenager of a single mother. When Beth and Ryan, two of her friends from school, walk home, they check to see if one of their school friends, Katelyn Meadows is still listed as missing. Since the War three years earlier, The Federal Bureau of Reformation—the military branch of the government whose purpose it was to enforce the citizens to comply with the Moral Statutes—has led to many mysterious disappearances of people. Evidently their friend Katelyn hadn’t complied with one of the statutes.

When the military police come to Ember’s house later in the day and forcefully remove her mother, Lori Whittman, everything Ember knows as a “normal” existence is thrown asunder.

Her mom has been arrested for the violation of the Moral Statute Article 5 which pertains to conceiving children out of wedlock. Ember has never known nor has she cared who her father is. This has never been a problem in the past. Why should it matter now? Yet her mother is being arrested!

Ember fights with the soldiers—biting one of them. She is stunned to see that the driver for the military is her boyfriend Chase Jennings. Chase and Ember have been friends since forever. His decision to join the military was upsetting, but Ember figured they could always write one another. His lack of letters to her has been of major concern. When he does nothing to indicate he even recognizes Ember at the arrest of her mom, she is really angry. Chase could stop this whole “misunderstanding” by telling the other officers that there has been a mistake as Ember believes the case to be.

Life unravels when Ember is driven by bus with other detainees to West Virginia to a Girls’ Reformatory and Rehabilitation Center. The only thing that Ember can think about is escaping and trying to rescue her mom.

Will she be able to escape? Will anyone at the school prove to be trustworthy? If she does manage to leave, where will she go to find her mom? Will she ever see Chase Jennings again? If she does, will she ever be able to forgive his lack of compassion to either her mom or herself?

Fans of dystopian fiction will like the fast paced action and unexpected twists to the plot in Article 5 by Kristen Simmons. The author has definitely left the opportunity for a sequel to be written.