Num8ers by Rachel Ward

First things first, this book is British. No biggie, right? Harry Potter is British. HUGE biggie. The characters in this book are abandoned, lower-class and uneducated. Because of all these things, they speak with a lot of slang (that you may not understand because its different from American slang) and A LOT of cussing. I tried to rationalize that they dropped "F" so often because it isn't as bad of a cuss word there, but even so...its pretty intense cussing. I don't really mind language as long as there is a reason for it. And, I guess the author was trying to show how uneducated and angry these characters were, but I still thought much of it was unnecessary. Similarly, there is a sex scene that is necessary for the story, but the characters are 15 and 17 years old. Sorry, but I am not ok with that, even if it is important for the story. So, saying all that, PROCEED WITH CAUTION if you read this book.

The story follows Jem, a 15 year old orphan whose mother died of a drug overdose when she was little. Since then, Jem has floated from foster home to foster home with everyone trying to "fix" her. However, she is not interested in being fixed because she refuses to get close to anyone. Considering her past it's completely understandable that she would be guarded, but there is much more to her story than that. When Jem looks into a person's eyes, she sees 8 numbers. These numbers are the day the person dies. Jem hates looking at children the most and seeing when they die.

So Jem lives her life in a very guarded way, until Spider, a boy she goes to school with, can't get the hint to leave her alone like everyone else does. Plus, she feels really bad for the guy, because he only has a few months left. Spider doesn't give up and eventually he and Jem form a strange sort of friendship. They end up both suspended from school and decide to go into London for the day. While they are in a very public place, Jem starts noticing that everyone around them has the same numbers in their eyes...today. She freaks out and tells Spider they have to leave right now! They take off running and when they are less than a mile away, a bomb goes off in the public area they just left.

Police begin to investigate and witnesses, as well as cameras, show Jem and Spider fleeing the scene of the crime. Jem and Spider are now wanted for "questioning".

I liked the book but, as mentioned earlier, I felt parts of it were unnecessary. Furthermore, the story wasn't really about the numbers but more about Jem and her complete inability to love. But, I don't feel like her inability to love was developed well enough. I don't know, if you're interested, you might like it. It was just really "Meh" for me. There is a sequel out, but I probably won't read it.
Grade: C
Rating: R