Hope Murdoch was born dead. She took a breath two minutes later and now is an almost-normal sixteen-year-old. Normal: a hopeless crush on the boy next door, a negative body image, and a (mis)diagnosis of ADHD. Not-so-normal: an exhausting and distracting ability to read minds. High school is hard enough without hearing what everyone really thinks of you.
Lance Hampton used to be normal until a car accident killed him and his parents. Paramedics brought him back to a life he doesn’t want: orphaned, uprooted, living with his uncle, and suddenly able to see how people die. At his new school, he tries to keep to himself. Seeing how complete strangers die is torture enough, let alone friends.
At first glance, Hope doesn’t think much of Lance (though a lot of the other girls do). He looks like the typical bad boy. No thank-you…but then she meets his eyes and everything goes dark. She hears labored breathing. Rapid footsteps. And then a thud as someone falls to the ground. Inside Lance’s head, Hope just witnessed a vision of murder…her own.
Together, Hope and Lance try to catch a killer before he’s red-handed. A killer who could be anywhere. Anyone. Sure Hope can read minds and Lance can see death, but they still can’t see in the dark.
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This book has it all. Sweet romance, teen angst, thrilling suspense, and even a touch of paranormal, with Hope and Lance’s abilities – that are more of a curse than a gift.
Campbell has created characters who are fun and sassy, but also tortured. They’re relatable and I really enjoyed every second in their company. So often, teen characters grate on my nerves because they’re quite obnoxious, but Hope and her friends were all really great characters. Well-rounded, grounded (for the most part) individuals, and it was nice to have parents who were genuinely interested in their children’s lives—L ance being the only exception.
Hope’s ability to read minds was interesting and I liked the spin that was put on her gift, with the fact that it took quite a bit of practice to discern whose thoughts belonged to whom. As for Lance’s gift, no wonder the poor guy was in so much turmoil all the time. I’m not sure if I could have lived with seeing how people die, and it must have been torture for him to have to witness the deaths of those he was closest to.
This story was well-developed, flowing right off the pages in an exciting race to stop a murderer, as well as trying to save others in the process. The biggest mystery was where and when would Hope’s life come to an end. The terror that overwhelmed her also fueled her need to live, at times making her reckless.
The thing I really love about this type of story is that I get to play detective. I’m always looking for clues, no matter how small, but with Hope’s death I was kept in the dark (no pun intended) for most of the story, until the moment when everything clicked into place and I had an a-ha moment. As she fought to stay alive, to prevent the vision she’d seen in Lance’s mind, so my pulse raced. It was thrilling. She may have changed her fate, but clearly it wasn’t going to be as easy as stopping her death this one time around. The final moments of the book proved just that, and I cannot wait to jump right into the next book to see if Hope will be able to escape death’s clutches once again.