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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fingerprints_metz.png]]
2''Fingerprints'' is a series of young adult novels by Melinda Metz, author of ''Literature/RoswellHigh'' (the series ''Series/{{Roswell}}'' was based on), and is written in a similar style.
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4Rae Voight is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent. However, on her first day of high school, her head suddenly becomes filled with thoughts that aren't hers. After suffering a massive freak-out, she is sent to a mental institution.
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6A year later, Rae is out, having tricked her doctors into thinking she is longer hearing the not-her thoughts. However, on her first day back to school, someone sets a bomb to try and kill her. In the process of investigating why, she learns she isn't crazy after all: she has PsychicPowers. Whenever she touches someone's fingerprint, she hears what they were thinking when they left it.
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8[[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway ...What kind of lame power is that, anyway?]]
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10Using her powers as best she can, Rae tries to discover who is trying to kill her. She gets help from a few of her friends. There's Anthony, a TroubledButCute potential {{Love Interest|s}} who was framed for the bombing; Jesse, his also-troubled honorary little brother; and Yana, a CoolBigSis who was doing volunteer work at the mental hospital where Rae stayed. Together, they try to protect Rae and uncover the mystery surrounding a mysterious Group attended by Rae's dead mother, and meet a few other people with psychic powers along the way. In the end, Rae has to face down not only a DeadlyDoctor, but unexpected betrayal from a source very close to her.
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12There are seven books in the series: ''Gifted Touch'', ''Haunted'', ''Trust Me'', ''Secrets'', ''Betrayed'', ''Revelations'', and ''Payback''. In July 2010, an omnibus of the first three books is being released under the title ''Echoes''. ''Gifted Touch'' has been renamed ''Echoes'' and ''Trust Me'' has been renamed ''Trust'' (probably so the entire series will have one-word titles).
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14!!This series provides examples of:
15* AdultsAreUseless: In spite of the multiple threats on Rae's life, with real physical evidence that would in no way lead anyone to find out about her powers or lead anyone to believe she's crazy like [[spoiler:a box of human remains sent to her house]], threatening letters, etc., no one ever thinks to call the police.
16* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Rae's old friends abandon her after her freak-out
17* TheAtoner: Inverted with [[spoiler:Steve Mercer]], whose attempts to atone for his perceived past evil end up being a lot ''more'' evil than what he did in the first place.
18* ArcWords: "Erika Keaton"
19* BadPowersBadPeople: While Amanda Reesce was by all accounts a nice person, [[spoiler:Steve Mercer]] assumed that anyone with the ability to see people's fears ''must'' be evil...
20* BlessedWithSuck: Rae. Even those with awesome powers get a raw deal, since they get hunted down by the organization and suffer side effects from overuse of their abilities.
21* BookDumb: Anthony, who has dyslexia
22* BreakTheCutie: Yana's ballerina story provides a hint of what a sweet girl she was before various circumstances caused her to become her current {{Tomboy}} self.
23* BrokenBird: She hides it well, but [[spoiler:Yana]] is one at heart.
24* CardboardPrison: Book 7 - the prisoner manages to just wander out during a computer failure, despite being heavily drugged. Way to go, Aiden, real tight ship you're running there.
25* CastSpeciation: Only one psychic power was repeated, and the repeat is a PosthumousCharacter.
26* CompellingVoice: [[spoiler:Yana]] and [[spoiler:Melissa]]
27* ContrivedCoincidence: The power [[spoiler:Mandy]] develops just happens to be the one they need to solve the current situation.
28* DeadlyDoctor: [[spoiler:Steve Mercer]]; later [[spoiler:Layla Cascone]], though the latter is less "hands-on" than the former
29* DeadlyUpgrade: Excessive use of her psychic powers starts causing Rae side effects, making her worry she might die of wasting disease like her mother.
30* DisproportionateRetribution: Getting revenge on the person who killed your mother? Fine. The murderer is already dead, so taking revenge on a relative who had nothing to do with the murder and didn't even know about it? Uh...
31-->"Someone dying isn't enough for revenge. They have to suffer. Don't you get it? And you can't suffer when you're dead. But I found someone who ''could'' suffer..."
32* DistressBall: [[spoiler:Yana]] in book 7. The large plot hole makes it clear how contrived the situation is (if the guards were all psychic-blocked, why did [[spoiler:Sam]]'s powers still work on them? So he could be a {{Big Damn Hero|es}} for the DamselInDistress, of course.)
33* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Yana]]. It's a little unbelievable how easily Rae forgives her in book 7, considering the events of book 6.
34* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: One villain, [[spoiler:Yana]], has a major mother complex as her motivation. Everything she does is to get revenge for her mother's death.
35* EvilutionaryBiologist: [[spoiler:Steve Mercer]], who later tried to undo his work
36* FakeMemories: One of [[spoiler:Yana]]'s powers
37* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Yana]] had a really crappy childhood. The fact that her mother's murderer enjoyed a happy life drove her over the edge.
38* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Yana]], book 7. Rather abrupt, but consistent with her characterization; it's [[EasilyForgiven how quickly Rae accepts her as a hero]] that stretches WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.
39* IKnowWhatYouFear: Amanda Reese's power.
40* InsaneEqualsViolent: When Rae first starts hearing other people's thoughts, she willingly goes to a mental institution because she's afraid she might be crazy and turn out InsaneEqualsViolent. Turns out she has a reason for her fears: [[spoiler:her mother (supposedly) also went crazy and then murdered someone]].
41* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:Steve Mercer]] "correcting" his past mistakes.
42* KillItWithFire: Book 7. [[spoiler:Yana torches the Community Center.]] Fire solves everything.
43* LaserGuidedAmnesia: One of [[spoiler:Yana]]'s powers
44* MilkmanConspiracy: The Wilton Community Center. Offering classes in knitting, yoga, and [[EvilutionaryBiologist Evilutionary Biology]]. Join today.
45* MindProbe: Rae can do this by making direct fingertip-to-fingertip contact with a person.
46* MindRape: In the sixth book, Rae describes it as like "raping her brain" when a villain's power forces evil thoughts into her mind.
47* TheMole: [[spoiler:Yana.]]
48* MyNaymeIs: Rae's real name is Rachel; she began going by Rae as a way a reinventing herself when she started high school.
49* ParentalAbandonment: Just try and find a character in this series who still has both parents.
50* PeoplePuppets: [[spoiler:Sam]]'s power, though [[spoiler:Yana]]'s powers let her do it as well (and better).
51* PhlebotinumRebel: Two members of the Group ([[spoiler:Erika]] and [[spoiler:Melissa]]) attempted this, but failed. Later on, [[spoiler:Yana]] and [[spoiler:Sam]] succeed.
52* PosthumousCharacter: Melissa Voight.
53* PowerIncontinence: Rae and [[spoiler:Mandy]] can't turn off their powers. Rae starts wearing wax on her fingertips so she doesn't pick up every random thought in the world; it's not seen whether [[spoiler:Mandy]] finds a similar solution or is just very careful.
54* PsychicNosebleed: When [[spoiler:Yana]] tries her powers on a psychic-blocked guard.
55* PsychicPowers:
56** Rae's ability is basically {{Psychometry}}.
57** [[spoiler:Mandy]]'s ability is a subset of {{Clairvoyance}}.
58** An unseen character is said to have {{Telekinesis}}.
59* PsychoKnifeNut: [[spoiler:Yana.]] "I wonder how many cuts it will take for you to die? I bet thousands and thousands..."
60* PsychoSupporter: [[spoiler:Yana]] to Rae, up through book 6; something of a one-sided EnemyMine, since [[spoiler:Yana wants Rae dead but needs her alive as bait as long as Mercer is a threat]].
61* PstandardPsychicPstance: Averted; all of the characters are able to use their powers without fanfare.
62* PsychicStatic: Rae has a harder time getting thoughts from older fingerprints, since they tend to be smudged or covered in dust. Rae also can't get any thoughts off the fingerprints of her nemesis, who is a more powerful psychic.
63* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Aiden Matthews.]]
64* TheReveal: Book 6, "Revelations", appropriately enough.
65* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:Yana.]]
66* RomanticFalseLead: Marcus
67* ShadowArchetype: In the seventh book, Rae spends a lot of time thinking about how easily she could have turned out like [[spoiler:Yana]].
68* ShowSomeLeg: When fake [=IDs=] fail, Yana uses this to gets Rae and Anthony into a bar.
69* SinsOfOurFathers: Rae hasn't done anything wrong, but her mother is already dead and she's the next best thing when it comes to getting revenge.
70* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Mandy calls for Rae's help in breaking up her sister's wedding. This is a good thing, honest.
71* StepfordSmiler: Jackie
72* SuperSerum: The power-amplifying N-Tetran. The earlier formulas may have been more along the lines of PsychoSerum, given the effect they had on [[spoiler:Sam]].
73* SupernaturalProofFather: Rae's father never does learn about her psychic powers.
74* SuperpowerLottery: Which Rae lost, big-time.
75* SuperpowerfulGenetics: All members of the Group passed psychic powers to their children, though there seems to be no correlation between the exact types of powers.
76* {{Synchronization}}: When Rae touches fingertips with a drugged person, she hallucinates. When she touches fingertips with an unconscious person, she falls unconscious. When she touches fingertips with a dead person... well, that's really not such a good idea.
77* TroubledButCute: Anthony.
78* VillainousLineage: A major fear of Rae's, because [[spoiler:she thinks her mother was a murderer]].
79* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Steve Mercer.]]
80* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Rae's power of fingerprint-reading is pretty much the weakest of the lot, though she does find clever ways to make use of it. Lampshaded in book 6 when she tries to fight a psychic with a ''much'' stronger ability, who laughs at the uselesness of Rae's power.
81* WhatTheHellHero:
82** Rae calls Anthony out before he can do much damage when he goes back on pot and joins some {{Delinquents}} for a robbery.
83** All the main characters have times like this throughout the series, mostly due to PoorCommunicationKills, but also because each has a FatalFlaw that makes them come off as judgmental jerks in certain situations.

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