Thirteen Days to Midnight: By Patrick Carman

Thirteen Days to Midnight

SUMMARY

You are indestructible. Three whispered words transfer an astonishing power to Jacob Fielding that changes everything. At first, Jacob is hesitant to use the power, unsure of its implications. But there's something addictive about testing the limits of fear.

Then Ophelia James, the beautiful and daring new girl in town, suggests that they use the power to do good, to save others. But with every heroic act, the power grows into the specter of a curse. How to decide who lives and who dies?

In this nail-biting novel of mystery and dark intrigue, Jacob must walk the razor thin line between right and wrong, good and evil, and life and death. And time is running out. Because the Grim Reaper doesn't disappear. . . . He catches up.

REVIEW

If you could have any super power in the world what would you have?

Flight? Invisibility? Telepathy?

In Thirteen Days to Midnight, Carman creates a world where the protagonist, Jacob is granted the power of indestructibility, after his foster father dies in a car accident. Jacob soon discovers that he is able to transfer the power to anyone he wants, but he and his friends soon find the indestructibility has a dark and dangerous presence. As the story unfolds it turns from the power and what the kids are doing with it to the power’s past and what side effects it has.

I was a little disappointed in Thirteen Days to Midnight. Carman is obviously a talented writer who has a created an intriguing premise for a story, but he fails to do anything with it. I found myself waiting for the action and the entire story turned out to be more like an origin story for how dark and destructive the power is, as opposed to what life is like for these kids with it.

I was even more surprised when the story continued to lack action and adventure and instead turned into a philosophical debate on the existence of heaven and hell.

Because of this lack of action, an unbelievable love story, and the fact that this book built up my expectations with its description and then didn’t meet them, I was ultimately disappointed with the book. Still if you know that this isn’t an action packed young adult fantasy novel, then the reader may enjoy the story.

Rating

6 out of 10

INFO

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Published: April 12, 2010

Price: $16.99