Denton Little's Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day they will die. For 17-year-old Denton Little, that's tomorrow, the day of his senior prom.
Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's hostile sister. Though he's not totally sure. See: first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters…. Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.
This was one of those books that left me a little confused - not because the plot was confusing or anything like that, but because I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, the humor and the premise in this book was so absolutely on-point that I really couldn't put it down. On the other hand, the ending really threw me and though I don't want to give spoilers, I just feel like it threw me for a loop and not in a big way. In my opinion, a good ending can make or break a book - it's what you go away thinking of, and this ending just never really impressed me.
What I loved about how this book started though, is how Rubin managed to create this world without having to explain everything to us. He builds up an interest then starts to introduce the characters until we just come to get what's going on. The book takes place mostly over one day, the day that Denton Little is going to die, it really was a great plot and it kept me guessing all the way through. I really liked the characters as well, Denton was great, but his best friend Paolo stole the show and their friendship was so perfect - definitely my favorite part of this book.
I think that's really all I can say, without dropping hints about the ending and ruining it (by ranting! ugh!).
So I'll leave it at this. Denton Little's Deathdate was a nice little book, but the ending left me frowning and not in a good way... will I read a potential sequel? Maybe... but I'm not so sure...
Book released 26th March 2015 by Simon and Schuster UK
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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