Ezekiel is almost 15 and in ninth grade at Downy High School. His usual mood is one of “resentful loneliness”. The other kids have actively avoided him since the fifth grade because they think he’s a thief, although he isn’t. He actually has a micropower, which enables him to find things that are lost and return them to their owner.

“It was as if he had been born with this mission in life: to see that all lost things were returned.”

Beth is almost 14 but is in tenth grade and declares she’s “smart enough for college”. She tells Ezekiel she’s “a proportionate dwarf” and her height is referenced at every opportunity during the book, often in offensive ways. Beth is Ezekiel’s only friend.

Ezekiel’s micropower is of interest to Dr. Withunga, who runs the Group of Rare and Useless Talents (GRUT). The others in the group also have their own individual talents, which run the gamut from being able to make people yawn to knowing if someone’s belly button is an innie or an outie when they’re fully clothed. While these talents are used by the participants they’re not exactly lining up to save the world with them. These are micropowers, after all; there’s no one from DC or Marvel in sight.

Until Ezekiel is approached by a police officer with an unusual request. Help him find a missing girl. Except Ezekiel has never found a person before, only objects.

I was really excited to read this book. I love anything superhero related so figured anything even hinting at micro heroes would be right up my alley. I loved the concept and there were sections of this book I would have loved as a kid.

Adult me is conflicted. I had trouble figuring out the audience for this book. The writing felt like I was reading a middle grade book but then very dark themes were introduced, which would be more suitable for older readers.

I found the reveals predictable and I didn’t like most of the characters. Ezekiel could be a semi thoughtful human being at times but when he was in “brat mode” I found him insufferable. Besides knowing which character had which micropower, the kids in GRUT were fairly interchangeable. No one had a distinct voice and practically everyone in this book was trying to out-snark each another.

While I usually enjoy banter it exhausted me here. Most of the characters spoke almost exclusively in sarcasm (I would usually love this) but there was a lot of dialogue that was mean, rude and offensive. I needed to switch my brain into ‘don’t question this’ mode whenever law enforcement allowed children to be involved in their investigation.

Content warnings are included in my Goodreads review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.