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Boy 7

Mirjam Mous

3.71 · Rating details · 2,991 ratings · 232 reviews

Een jongen komt bij in een snikhete, kale grasvlakte. Hij weet niet hoe hij daar terechtgekomen is, waar hij vandaan kwam en zelfs niet meer hoe hij heet. Tot zijn opluchting vindt hij een rugzak met daarin een mobiele telefoon. Hij wil het alarmnummer intoetsen, maar ziet dan dat hij een voicemailbericht heeft ontvangen. Tot zijn verbijstering hoort hij: Wat er ook gebeur ...more

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ebook, 284 pages

Published July 2011 by Van Holkema & Warendorf (first published 2009)

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· 2,991 ratings · 232 reviews

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May 24, 2016 Vivianne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-3-stars

A boy wakes up in a sweltering, bare field. He doesn’t know how he ended up there, where he was before or what his name is. After discovering a strange 7 on his leg he finds a backpack containing a mobile phone. Relieved he wants to enter the emergency number, but then sees that he has received a voice message. To his amazement he hears: Whatever happens, don’t call the police. And he knows one thing for sure this is his own voice. Then a pick-up truck comes driving up...

spoiler free review!

I wa A boy wakes up in a sweltering, bare field. He doesn’t know how he ended up there, where he was before or what his name is. After discovering a strange 7 on his leg he finds a backpack containing a mobile phone. Relieved he wants to enter the emergency number, but then sees that he has received a voice message. To his amazement he hears: Whatever happens, don’t call the police. And he knows one thing for sure this is his own voice. Then a pick-up truck comes driving up...

spoiler free review!

I wanted to read this book for a while. The synopsis really interested me and reminded me of one of my favorite books:The Maze Runner. What I also liked is that this is a standalone, I was really curious how Mirjam Mous was going to conclude this story in less than 300 pages. I don’t think this book has been produced in the English language but they should! There is a Dutch movie produced which I was also planning on seeing after reading this.

The book starts amazing, with all the questions. I can’t imagine someone would stop reading after reading the first page. But I don’t think this is that original. Like I mentioned before the blurb really reminded me of the maze runner; a boy waking up alone with no memory’s. But this book actually took a really different direction than I thought it would.

“My eyes wandered along the mirror that hung above the sink. I caught a flash of a boy with blond hair all sides peaked out. With a jolt, I realized it was my own reflection. Is something wrong? asked Lara. And if there was something! I did not recognize myself.”

I don’t know what to think of when Sem finds this Notebook. I don’t particularly like this part while I was reading it, because it felt unrealistic. It’s way to detailed to be real notes about his past. I really felt that I was lagging behind events, and that disturbed me because I wanted to know what had happened and this notebook tells about classes and tests. But after I finished I realized this story needed this, I was just happy that it didn’t continue through the whole book.
When part three in the book started the real excitement started. I loved the fast action filled plot and I couldn’t stop reading. And I loved how Sem handles it.

This book is well structured and thought over. Everything was told at the right moment and the order made you want to continue reading because the tension is growing gradually. What I think is the strength of this book is that there are so many questions you want to get answered as fast as possible. Unfortunately that was also a loss. I wanted to know the questions so bad that I started skipping lines just to come closer to finding the answers, that was a shame because this actually is a well written book.

I have never read anything from Miriam Mous but maybe I will in the future. I liked her writing style. It was fast paced and there weren’t unnecessary chapters or details. It’s very quick and easy to real (For some people too easy). I think her books aren’t literature but they are perfect for young readers and relaxing rainy afternoons. I only got annoyed that she sometimes wanted to fit too much in one sentence. That made it sometimes a bit untidy, especially in the beginning. Another annoyance I had while reading was the English words woven into this Dutch language book. In the Dutch language we take over a lot of English words, especially new once. But we have words for “notebook” “boy” and “seven”?! I was annoyed while reading, I don’t understand that authors want to participate in this trend.

I didn’t bind and connect much with the main character. I don’t think that that is the goal of this stand alone. But I did miss that connection with characters. Sem was an ok narrator and I liked him as the main character but he was nothing special. I do like that he is realistic in the way he acts and thinks in the situation. He isn’t a character I would remember and neither where the other characters in this book. But I really think this story doesn't need this because of the crazy good plot. I really liked Louis though, he was just what this series needed. I liked his friendship with Sem and the way he dealt with the whole situation. I hated what they did to him. I hated Lara throughout the whole book, she does one nice thing but ~~but I found that to be really predictable.~~

The world building isn’t much special. It’s just our world like in 2016. The descriptions where ok but leave a lot to the imagination. The institute hasn’t much debt. I mean I wanted to know more than it was a grey building and there was a fence. Flatstaff, is the town the other part of the story plays in. I just know that there is a Pizza Hut, and a bowling Centre, I have no idea how the rest of the town looks. But just like with the characters I think this story doesn’t need it.
There are a lot of unanswered questions and illogical moves from the cooperation. Why didn’t they find out Sam was also in on the first escape when Louis got captured. Why give them a chip when they were there for a few weeks, when you install it you can track them immediately? Why let them run around the hallways, you can’t fool me that there weren’t camera’s or that the night watcher never saw them. I don’t fully understand CooperationX. Their actions looked like an amateur school camp. I think that this cooperation is so, so unrealistic. Mad scientists fine, but this whole institute with classes and stuff it sounded so… weird. Only 8 boys? Why let a girl of 15/16 do a lot of dirty work? Who are there leaders? I also think there motives are a little bit vague, ok they want money and to test this brain thing but it’s still a little vague what they want.

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Enjoyable for an evening but this isn’t for people who are looking for literature. ...more

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Jan 18, 2015 Linde rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

Really liked this! (The Dutch movie too by the way!)

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Mar 13, 2015 Danique rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: school, books-i-own

This book was my favorite Dutch book ever when I was younger bless

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Apr 12, 2015 Skylacine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

Spoilers!
A boy wakes up in the middle of a dry meadow, with no memories and only a backpack full of random items with him. The boy, who calls himself Boy7, after a word and a number that's stitched inside his clothes, goes on a journey to look for who he is and what had happened to him, with the help of a nice girl named Lara.
As he furthers his quest for knowlegdge about himself, he discovers some mind-boggling things, and some people who seemed to be friends at first might just turn out to be e ...more

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Apr 23, 2020 Allie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A very great, mysterious book! A real page-turner! I had no idea what to expect, and I'm amazed at how Mirjam Mous was able to pull so much action off in less than 300 pages. The pacing was perfect; there were always new things happening, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. This book must have been a blast to write, the author did a fantastic job.
I really enjoyed how the small details in the book had greater impacts near the end. What I mean is; everything that Mous wrote about, had a ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Banu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Exciting and refreshing at the same time. I appreciate that I am free and independent

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Dec 31, 2018 Arif rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Perfact

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May 28, 2014 Bregje rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, young-adult, dutch, science-fiction, mystery, thriller, dutch-ya

This review was also posted at Books are stories.

A boy regains consciouness in a bare field. He does not remember how he got there, where he came from or even his own name.

This book has been on my shelf for a long time, but when I learned that it was recently made into the first Dutch young adult sci-fi movie I immediately wanted to read the book and go see the movie.
The tension in this book grew very gradually. The author made clever use of switching between past and present to make you very ea ...more

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Aug 29, 2014 Marjolein rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-ya, read-in-dutch

READ IN DUTCH

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

A boy wakes up on the side of the road. He doesn't know where he is, doesn't even know who he is. All he has is a backpack filled with seemingly not useful things and a mobile phone. There's one message on that phone: "Whatever you do, don't call the police." It may seem strange advice, but the most terrifying part is, it's his own voice.

The story is not unlike that of the movie Paycheck, where the main character tries to ...more

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Mar 19, 2016 Flavia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-mine, read-in-2016, german-read, ya, released-2005-2009

A daunting dystopia that lacks in the writing style and action department.
I saw the German version of the movie before reading tis book and I prefered the movie's storyline.
2.75 stars. ...more

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May 22, 2016 Reese rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-dutch, read-for-school

Better than I thought it would be.

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Feb 27, 2020 Stephen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, dutch

This was my first book ever read in Dutch. It was a little strange because it was actually set in the USA, which I did not realise when I bought it. I was expecting more immersion in Dutch culture from my first Dutch read, but I suppose there is no reason why Dutch authors must only write about Dutch speaking places.

Boy 7 (an older teen) finds himself alone on a remote world with no memory of who he is, or what he is doing there. He has a backpack, a phone with a voicemail message from himself t ...more

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Nov 30, 2017 ☆ Naomi ☆ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books-own

Rating: ★★★★☆

I enjoyed this one. It was filled with action and I got pulled into the story from the start. I really wanted to know what happened and because everything remained a secret until later on in the book, I was really surprised of how everything turned out. At a certain point I couldn't stop reading anymore, I just had to know how it would end. But then again, the last chapter was so confusing. Would anyone mind explaining it to me? Did it start again or is it over? No idea, and I guess ...more

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Apr 08, 2018 Dingetje50 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who don't get paranoid easily

Man, this book gave me nightmares! Don't combine this book with lack of sleep and unfamiliar environments; weird things will happen.

I read this book in two days, and I would have read it in one go if I hadn't had to get up at 6am the next day. It's super immersive and it made me super paranoid. Read at your own risk. ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Jenna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ok read first start was slow but afterwards it did pull me in.

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Sep 05, 2018 Ellen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Okay, but have read better. But maybe I am to judgy after reading some good phantasy series.

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Jun 10, 2019 Esh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mystery. That’s the whole point of the book. It was interesting that it kind of zooms into the future and shows us what it could be like. Loved it.

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Jan 28, 2020 Ericteur rated it liked it · review of another edition

Nice, quick read. I like the theme and the writing style which is fast and action oriented.

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Apr 15, 2020 Jennifer Burg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I love this story, I want to read it ink of the pages its a really good book.

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Apr 29, 2020 Debby DeCock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

good book for teenage boys, did read it to help my son.

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Aug 16, 2020 estera calin rated it liked it · review of another edition

a drawing with miscalculated proportions.
liked the ending though

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Sep 08, 2020 Tim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Cool

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Sep 15, 2020 On the Same Page rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, science-fiction, dutch, middle-grade

A boy wakes up in the middle of nowhere. He can't remember who he is, where he's from or why he's there. He has a backpack with a couple of items, including a cell phone. There's a voicemail waiting for him. It tells him not to call the cops, and the voice of the caller is his own.

This book follows Boy Seven (as he calls himself) and his journey towards discovering who he is and why he can't remember anything. Overall a pretty entertaining read. The pacing was a bit slow towards the middle; you ...more

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Nov 27, 2020 Amélie van Abeelen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, mystery, thriller

i enjoyed this, i don't really have anything to say about it. ...more

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Jul 14, 2016 Elyra Drake rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Boy 7 is a Dutch-language stand-alone book, which while being immensely popular in the Netherlands (there's also a Dutch language film), doesn't seem to have been translated to English.

1-10 rating: 7

Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller

Place it should be on your to-read list: Well, if you don't speak Dutch, you won't be able to read it anyway. If you do, I'd advise picking it up if you see it in a library but not going out of your way to get it.

The premiss: A boy wakes up on a desolate grass field with absolu ...more

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Feb 12, 2017 Simone rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book had me in a reading slump, but at the end I got out of the slump because of the story that got more and more exciting. I wanted to give it two stars, but it's not a bad book and the story gets faster eventually ...more

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Feb 25, 2016 Ingo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: filmed-as-movie-tv

Late in writing reviews since starting of 2016, sorry.
Watched the movie yesterday, the German one - it was filmed twice in 2015, once from the dutch, which I still aim to see and nearly at the same time from a German production company.
Not really sure about the age-group this is aimed at, I would say 12 and above, jupp, just checked on the webpage of the author, beware - FLASH Mirjam Mous.
This book is a clear warning about such procedures and has an ambitious ending, which may for some be unsati ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Daphne Sneek rated it liked it · review of another edition

I think it was a nice story, and not that hard to understand. I would recommend this book when you wanna start reading, because it is easy to read and understand.

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Apr 25, 2015 Barbara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: liked, young-adult, superpowers, memoryloss

Wow! This book is absolutely fantastic! I was surprised to learn it wasn't a translated version of an English/American book, but a book written by a Dutch author. Not many Dutch authors write fantasybooks and on top of that, this one is amazing.
It's easy to read and I was captured by the story right from the start. I don't want to write any spoilers, so I can only say: read this book!
I hope this book will get translated in English too, so I can recommend it to all my English reading friends. It' ...more

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Feb 03, 2016 Rosa rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book has really shown me in so much detail on how it is like to be controlled and not KNOW you are being controlled. Mirjam Mous really did a great job on drawing the reader in. Almost as if she/he is standing beside the main character and watching it all happening before their eyes.
However I must say that the ending confused me a lot. What happened to Lara? Was she part of the programme? Is there supposed to be a sequel?

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