Numbers

Numbers
By Rachel Ward
Chicken House, 2010. 325 pgs. Young Adult

Fifteen-year-old Jem has the unlucky ability to look at people and see their death dates. Haunted by these numbers, Jem tries to avoid personal relationships, but Spider is another outsider who weasels his way into a friendship with Jem. Jem thinks this is risky enough, since she knows Spider only has a short time to live, but before long, things become more complicated than she could have imagined as they find themselves wanted for terrorist activity and are forced to run away together to avoid facing the police.

This book began with an interesting premise; however, I don't feel like it achieved its potential. While I find Jem's reluctance to involve herself with people realistic, I also found she isn't a stellar main character. There was nothing to draw me to her, to make me really care if she was caught or what happened to her. And while Spider's fate has the potential to be a moving and interesting aspect of the story, the book wraps up too abruptly for it to make the impact that it could.

AE