A group of interlocking mysteries forms the center of this middle-grade novel narrated by 12-year-old Kester Jaynes. Like the other wards of Spectrum Hall, Kester is told that "your parents want to, ahm, f-f-forget about you."
But a memory haunts Kester of someone slipping through the dark of night, into the home he shared with his newly widowed father, and a stranger saying, "Kester Jaynes?... You're coming with me." Other mysteries plague Kester: What was the cause of the "red-eye" disease that wiped out all livestock? How did Selwyn Stone and his Factorium get to be in charge of the food supply? Was Kester's father, a prominent vet and "honourable scientist," privy to information that resulted in Kester being taken away? What's the meaning of his mother's last words: "Tell Dad he has to tell you?" While alone in a corner of the penned-in yard, Kester discovers that he's a kind of Doctor Doolittle: he can hear and speak to animals. They tell Kester that they are helping him escape from Spectrum Hall. And they do.
A quest follows, in which the animals explain to Kester that he is the one sent to save them. A majestic stag, leader of "the last wild," the only survivors of the disease, carries Kester on his back. They meet up with armed men, a girl holding out to stay with her infected cat, and many others in their travels. This is a life-affirming story in which children redeem their corrupt elders by doing the right thing. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness