This seems to be the start of a new YA series by the same author as the Bones series. The MC is the niece of Temperance Brennan, a move that didn't feel all that necessary, and actually took away from the story. A group of kids get involved in an illegal virus experiment and end up radically different. And there is a 50 year old murder mystery. 
 It felt like there was a checklist of the usually YA elements, and those were checked off, but it didn't feel like they were tied together that well. 
 In a set-the-stage book, I'm looking for a few things, the key being the relationships between characters, in this case, the formation of the core team, but that was lacking and mostly you were just told that the group were all good friends and that was it. I would have liked to have seen a lot more interaction between the characters.