For Jem, every person she meets, every person she sees, comes with a number. It took her a while to figure it out, but that number is the date that person is going to die. Period. For any regular person, this knowledge would make life extremely stressful and complicated, but Jem’s life isn’t even regular. It’s pretty dang horrible. Shuffled from one foster home to the next, she’s created a tough shield of “couldn’t care less” and has effectively enabled herself to go through life not feeling close to a single person.

The cards change, though, when another outsider refuses to be blown off and Jem slowly begins to let someone under her skin. Together they witness an event that changes everything, and suddenly Jem is racing against a clock that only she knows is ticking.

This was an interesting, fast-paced read. Poor Jem: you know there is so much hurt under all her scorching hardness. I liked the twists this book took, and the ending threw me for a loop. I can’t lay my finger on the reason why I wasn’t thrilled — maybe the climax felt a little too much like a television miniseries. But I liked the romantic relationship, and the whole idea of knowing when everyone was going to die was very intriguing.

Rated: High for language. There are also two scenes of teenage sex.