When

When
Victoria Laurie

My rating: ★★★★

ISBN: 978-1484700082
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Date of publication: January 13, 2015
Age: Grades 9 and up
Genre: Mystery

Themes: deathdates, serial killer, FBI investigation, family relations, motive

Maddie Fynn is cursed to see the deathdate of everyone around her—face-to-face, photographed, or on-screen. Her alcoholic mother exploits this to earn some extra money by having Maddie predict people's death. However, when her accuracy predicts the death of a teenage boy in the area, the FBI focuses on her. Then more teens start disappearing. Can Maddie set things right before more kids die? Can someone's deathdate change?

It was thrilling, it was gripping, and I could barely put it down. I love a good suspenseful murder. Maddie is a girl trying to live her life, but is being pulled in many directions: helping her alcoholic mother, succeeding in school, crushing on a cute boy, and (oh yeah) predicting deaths. These difficult conflicts make for a well-written character. It was easy to read this concept of a story from her perspective. The other characters, though? A little ho-hum. And the murderer? I'm still a tad confused at where Laurie came up with that one. He doesn't seem to fit the profile.

In fact, the ending was a little too neatly tied up in a pretty bow. Basically, it's too happy of an ending. The story really did pull me in—it had fantastic suspense and some definite tragedy—but about the time the murderer was revealed to the very end was just a little too perfect. There were a couple jumps, some gaps that weren't fully explained (could Stubby really snap out of his depression with one skateboard ride?), but really. I'm still a fan. I'd recommend it.

Find it at your library or on Amazon

(Digital ARC provided through NetGalley)