Kathy Reichs, author of the best-selling “Dr. Temperance Brennan” novels, on which the popular TV show “Bones” is based, has now begun “a thrilling debut series for young adults,” starring Victoria (Tory) Brennan, niece of the fictional forensic* anthropologist*.

    When we first meet our heroine, 14-year-old Tory has moved to Morris Island off the coast of South Carolina after her mother’s death, to live with her previously unknown father.

    She’s going to a new school, and has made friends on the island with the other resident kids her own age, all boys and science geeks* like herself.

    When animal-lover Tory and her “sci-phile” friends free a dog from a secret lab on another island, they don’t realize that they’ve been infected with an engineered canine* virus, which is slowly rewriting their own DNA.

    As they discover newfound abilities, they’re also caught up in much more sinister* goings-on: a decades-old murder that someone will do anything to cover up.

    The teenagers in the story are fairly fully realized, and it’s particularly refreshing to see them, despite their giftedness (pre- and post-viral enhancement), behaving like teens and not like miniature adults.(SD-Agencies)