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Important Spoiler Alert!

Warning! This page contains spoilers for Arrival.


Arrival (Book)
Book1
Author Chris Morphew
Illustrator N/A
Publisher Hardie Grant/Egmont
Publication Date 1st June, 2009
Additional Information
Narrator Luke Hunter
Genre(s) Adventure, Science fiction, Young adult
Recurring Characters N/A
Debuted Characters Jordan Burke

Peter Weir

Luke Hunter

Emily Hunter

Matthew Reeve

Bruce Calvin

Crazy Bill

Robert Montag

Publication Order
Preceded by
N/A
Followed by
Contact

Arrival is the first book in the Phoenix Files series. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on 1st June, 2009. It was later released in the United Kingdom on the 7th of July 2011

Dedication[]

To Melody,

Grace and Peace.

See you when I get home.

Blurb[]

Luke is having a rough year. When his parents split up, his mum drags him to Phoenix, a brand-new town in the middle of nowhere.

But Phoenix is no ordinary town. There are no cars, no phones and no internet. Luke thinks this is as weird as it gets.

Then he discovers that someone is plotting to wipe out the human race. Phoenix is suddenly the safest and most dangerous place on earth.

And the clock is already ticking.

There are one hundred days until the end of the world.

Plot[]

15-year old Luke Hunter is forced to move with his mother, Emily to Phoenix - a town in the middle of nowhere. When they arrive, they are greeted by Aaron Ketterley and Bruce Calvin and they escort them to their new house, 43 Acacia Way. Luke discovers there is no phone or internet reception and bicycles are the main mode of transport.

The next morning, Luke is introduced to the new school then given a laptop and introduced to Peter Weir, who Luke soon befriends. Peter escorts Luke to his locker to find his locker is the very last. The order of the lockers is done by the order of arrival of students. In their first class of the day, Luke is introduced to Mike, Cat and Tank who were Peter's old friends and Jordan, the last person to move into Phoenix. When Luke gets home, he finds a USB flash drive inside with the initials 'JB' etched onto it. He opens it on his new laptop and sees a random code of letters. There is only one suspect he can think of with those initials: Jordan Burke. Luke is viciously confronted by Jordan who was also given a USB with the initials 'LH' etched onto it. Peter suspects the number combinations from both USBs are a two parts of a bigger file. The next day before school, Luke and Jordan watch a recorded message of Ketterley and Calvin discussing the Cooperative's plot to wipe out the world outside of Phoenix in 100 days' time with an unknown called "Tabitha". There are now 97 days left. Luke finds a note in his bag saying to meet at the airport on Sunday at 7pm. It ends up being from Crazy Bill, and Bill gets into a fight with different officers, and he injures many of them.

The next day is Saturday and Peter shows Luke and Jordan the road where the town supply truck drives down. Luke tells them he has looked through the town directory and there is no one in it with the name Tabitha. When they come to the airport, they find it completely closed and abandoned. Then they find the one who sent them the USBs and the note: Crazy Bill, the town's only homeless person who is described as suffering from the "fallout". When he starts to talk to them about Tabitha, Officer Calvin and four other officers, including Officer Reeve arrive. They shoot at Bill and at Luke, Peter and Jordan and Reeve help them escape. Calvin is brutally injured and another officer is killed.

The next day, Ms Pryor, the principal informs them she knows about their disastrous trip into the airport and makes the excuse the airport is under reconstruction which Luke does not buy. An assembly is called the day after. They are given a lecture from Officer Calvin stating a 7pm-7am curfew will be placed on all citizens under 18 years of age unless they are with their parents. Later on, Peter leads Luke and Jordan into the school library where he picks up Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and shows them that Crazy Bill was reciting a poem from the book in his crazed speech at the airport. He has also left them a map.

They go to Jordan's house and she discusses with them that after her mum's numerous doctor's appointments, she is pregnant. They decide on doing a biking trip to the X's on Crazy Bill's map and to the nearest town so they can call their parents to tell them what's happening. The next morning, Crazy Bill comes and inexplicably bashes Luke up. He wakes up in the medical center where he is met by Dr Montag, the town's doctor and Calvin informs him Bill has been arrested. Jordan, Luke and Peter discuss their plans to leave Phoenix and do so on the Saturday. They find a warehouse where all the town's supplies are and see an issue of Time magazine dated for next July with Shackleton on the cover. They take a copy. Then they find a three storey-high, two-meter thick concrete wall that extends as far as they can see. The revelation is discovered that the wall surrounds Phoenix. They climb over and see the land beyond Phoenix is a baron wasteland. Reeve finds them and orders them in the car. Once they are in town again they are interviewed by Calvin to get an explanation for their actions. Reeve covers for them saying they were lost which he is reluctant to believe. Crazy Bill escapes the security center. The next day when Luke, Peter and Jordan are in the town square they hear a phone ringing.

Trivia[]

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