My Review
If you’ve always been intrigued by the idea of psychics or those that can foretell the future, you will be entertained by this fictional novel. The concept is about a girl named Maddie who sees the death dates of everyone around her – whether she wants to or not. I think it would be a blessing and a curse to have this ability; I personally would not want to know! Imagine how uncomfortable you would feel in your daily life!
This ability was first discovered when she proclaimed the death date of her father (not knowing what it really meant) and then his death actually occurred on the same day. Because of this, her mother starts a business where Maddie will be paid to tell people their dates. Of course, this does not last long, as this causes her to be the main suspect in a murder investigation. She tells a mother that her son’s death date is only a week away and then he is murdered. She is taken in for questioning, followed by her best friend, and there begins a series of very unfortunate murderific events.
The premise of the novel is great for adolescent readers who would enjoy a suspenseful story, especially when it includes a young girl who never does anything wrong (like, literally – perfect student, great grades, has a best friend she confides in) but who also has a difficult upbringing. Her father has died young, and mother turns into an alcoholic whom she ends up taking care of more than the reverse.
I recommend this novel to those who like crime solving storylines or who enjoy a story with a plot twist. It did keep me engaged to keep reading and find out what was going to happen, so that is a plus!
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Beer Pairing: It would most definitely be a light beer! Since the story was a bit bland, I suggest a beer with such light flavor that you will match the book perfectly. I’m thinking Miller Lite, Coors Light, or even Bud Light (if you really don’t want any extra flavor).
If you’d like to give it a try (and support local bookstores), find the book here: When by Victoria Laurie on Bookshop.org
If you’d like to check out the book on Amazon, find the book here: When by Victoria Laurie
Spoiler Alert: Summary & Guiding Questions
The novel begins with the narrator explaining a special ability she has — she can “see the exact date that someone will die, but nothing else about the how, where, or even why.” (4)
Q: What good does it do to know the when, if you can’t know at least one of the other three?
Q: How would you feel if you could see death dates? What would you do with that ability?
She does not realize what the numbers mean until she writes the numbers on a childhood drawing; when her father is murdered on that date, her mother connects the dots.
Her mother is an alcoholic and does not spend quality time taking care of her. In order to make ends meet, Maddie does “readings” for people where she tells them their death date for a fee.
“Lots of my clients come to me with a list and a stack of photos, and they’ll ask about everyone in their family except themselves.”
Q: Would you want to know your own date or those of other people?
As different characters are introduced, their death dates are stated as well. You start to feel a sense of compassion for these people you have just “met” especially when their dates coming soon.
She meets a woman who is interested to know if her daughter will die of cancer, but Maddie assures her she has many more years to live. Her other child, Tevon, however, has a death date of next week.
The mother is furious and believes Maddie is a fraud. When he goes missing the next week, though, all signs point to Maddie, and she is questioned by the FBI.
The FEDS begin to question her, her mother, and her best friend about Tevon’s disappearance. Maddie is nervous but focuses on taking care of her alcoholic mother and reminiscing about her father.
“I found myself staring at his image and missing him like crazy… he’d been our center, the glue that held us together and gave us purpose. His absence was greater than the sum of our parts, and I didn’t think we’d ever feel quite whole again.” (42)
She gets into a minor but painful bike accident and ends up talking with a man she met before. He knows his death date is coming soon, but he is taking it SO very well. “With all the added life insurance, my family will never have to worry about money again…I also make sure to tell my sons and my wife how much I love them every day. We have never been closer. And I’ve been checking things off my bucket list, too…. the stuff you always say you want to do but never get to because there’s always tomorrow.” (48) “I don’t sweat the small stuff. Not anymore. You freed me, Maddie. I feel more alive right now than I ever have.” (49)
It reminds me of the “Live Like You Were Dying” song by Tim McGraw. If only we looked at life more often as so precious and valuable – how much more we would live our life to the fullest. We ALL need to appreciate the time we are given and make the most of it!
When Tevon’s body is found, she can’t help but feel guilty, even though she had nothing to do with it. She feels like she could have tried harder to save him or convince his mother to not let him leave the house.
Q: Do you think there is anything she truly can do to change someone’s death date?
Maddie is now being questioned by the FBI about Tevon’s disappearance and murder. Thankfully she has an uncle who is a lawyer that is able to come and support her through the investigation. The FEDS disbelieve that she can read death dates and assume that she is the one responsible.
During the questioning, they do something so shocking. “He slapped [a photo] down in front of me… I was staring at a picture of Tevon Tibbolt, lying dead and bloody in a pile of leaves and mud.” (63)
Q: Do you think it was inappropriate for the FEDS to show this photo to her?
“I’d heard the news reporter say that Tevon had many wounds and that he’d been tortured. But seeing it in the photograph was so, so much worse than anything I could’ve imagined…it was the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen.” (63)
The worst part is the guilt she feels, “if I had known that that was going to happen to Tevon, I never ever would’ve let his mother leave my house without convincing her that I was for real.” (64) Her best friend Stubs feels the same way, even insinuating that he is just as guilty for knowing and not doing anything more to help.
Since she was first questioned at school by the agents, her teachers are now acting strange around her, giving her weird looks and making random comments. One of her teachers even says, “Did you really kill that kid?” (72)
Q: Are teachers even allowed to ask outright questions like that?
Since there is an open investigation against her, her lawyer demands that she does not do readings for people anymore, especially for how badly it can backfire. This money is greatly needed to pay the bills, but honestly is more for her mother’s alcohol addiction. Her mother tries convincing her to continue them since they will be short on the bills, but Maddie knows the truth.
Later, her and Stubs attend a high school game to check out their crushes; whenever his crush, a cheerleader named Payton comes close to them, Maddie sees her death date as next week. They are both in utter shock. Stubs desperately wants to tell her immediately, but Maddie is concerned with the Feds finding out again and convinces him to wait until a better time (especially since they happen to be at the football game).
Once home, she finds her mother obliterated and lying on the floor. She has a daydream about a boy she likes, but then it becomes cloudy from reality. “I knew that no boy would ever want to get close to a girl like me… A girl who saw death in every face. Who was labeled a witch at school. Who had a drunk for a mother, and a father who’d died in a gun fight with drug dealers. A girl who was being investigated for murder by the FBI.” (89)
Her mother’s alcohol abuse is hard to handle most days, and her uncle really wants Maddie to come live with him. She knows she cannot leave her mother, and the city where he lives gives her panic attacks.
Her mother promises she will cut back on the drinking. “I need you here. I can’t make it without you. Promise me you’ll stay?” (101) The moment takes her back to when she was trying to start Kindergarten but could not get on the bus without uncontrollable sobbing. Her mother had said, “If you’re not brave enough to get on that bus today, then I’ll understand and we’ll go home and try again next week. But if you can do it today, then I’ll be prouder of you than you could know.” (101)
She realizes in this situation that SHE is the one who needs to be brave for her mom and wait until she was ready to be better.
She continues to try and talk to her best friend Stubs, but he is still ignoring her since she would not readily try to help Payton whose death date was coming in just a few short days. Stubs had been desperate to save her life and see if they could impact the date, just like they wished they had done with Tevon.
Q: If destiny determines when your death date is, is it meant to be? Will them interfering with the situation be what is actually supposed to happen and the death will still occur?
They decide to send the Payton a card with information about being extra careful on the day she was set to die. They hope the plan will work…but it does not. Unfortunately, she goes missing and her death date is the same.
And then, Maddie realizes something — since she and Stubs sent her a card warning her of impending danger, they were both now involved again with someone who had been murdered.
Maddie races to his house to tell him the news and finds the Feds right outside his home! Stubs talked with them and they asked him about the game they had attended (where Payton had been a cheerleader) and why they left early. In the readers mind, you knew the reasons they asked; they were going to link the murder with her again (and maybe they had seen the birthday card). But Maddie sighs in relief that they did not press further.
“I had a terrible suspicion that her abduction and death were somehow linked to Tevon’s, which meant that I could indeed be sucked into her murder investigation, too. It would also indicate that there was a serial killer on the loose.” (121)
Of course, the Feds bring her back in for questioning and they happen to have the card her and Stubs sent to Payton. She immediately confesses about the card they sent to her, which seemed the right thing to do. However, there is a strange turn of events. The agent states that the letter was never sent — they found it in Stubs’ trash can!
They are then informed that Stubs approached Payton and told her in person that she needed to be careful on her birthday; that he had seen visions of her being harmed. So, instead of sending the card…he had taken matters into his own hands…which could only mean that he was now a murder suspect.
But then, the Feds make a startling statement, “We’ve got him, [Stubs], here now, and he says it was all Madelyn’s idea. He says that she came up with a plan to kidnap and kill Tevon Tibbolt, convinced him to do the dirty work, and they both enjoyed it so much that they went looking for another victim.” (134)
And then, to make matters worse, they inform them that they have a search warrant and have discovered the little black notebook where Maddie writes down the names and dates of people she either knows or has done readings for. It seems the shit has hit the fan.
It is then that the agent says that she will be arrested…soon. As she walks out, she sees that her best friend Stubs is being taken away in handcuffs. Everything is getting so out of hand.
In the car, her uncle Donny questions her about the notebook she had with all the death dates. “It helps me cope… I need to do something with all those numbers…They’re everywhere I look and writing them down helps me deal. I see so many people who think they’ve got another 50 or 60 years ahead of them; they have no idea that death is so close. It breaks my heart all the time to think about that moment when they’ll know that they have way less time than they thought, how hard that must be for them to realize they’re about to lose everything and leave everybody they love behind.” (139)
Q: How does this make you feel? Would you want to know the date you were going to die?
When they arrive back home, the house is littered with agents combing the house for evidence. When they have a moment alone, Donny questions her about Stubs and if she thinks he had any involvement in the murders. She vehemently disagrees. “He’s the most loyal, honest, sweet, kind person on the planet! He couldn’t hurt anybody.” (148) Her uncle, though, believes differently and is not so sure he is completely innocent.
The story of Stubs being arrested is all over the news and reports of a female accomplice, now makes everyone see her in an accusatory light. Her teachers and classmates are shunning her—openly speaking out against her and damaging her property. To make things worse, when she gets home, she finds her mother passed out drunk again. The stress this young girl must be under is intense.
School seems to be getting worse for her; she is attacked by two boys to the point of being near unconsciousness, her bike and locker are vandalized, and the principal is not providing much support. He literally told her that if she did not like it, she could leave.
She meets with the superintendent of schools and explains everything she has been going through and how she has been treated poorly (major bullying by students and teachers) at the school. She even divulges her ability and proves it by saying the death dates of different people in a history book.
The superintendent states, “It seems that you have not been afforded the standard that all people in this country have as their right, which is the assumption of innocence until proven otherwise in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. I don’t know if you had anything to do with the death of those two people, but I’m inclined to believe that you didn’t.” (169) Thankfully someone else believes her and is on her side!
During one of her bike rides home, she had noticed that someone in a big pickup truck had been following her. Now, as she is leaving the school, she realizes one of her rude teachers (who has been treating her differently) drives a big truck. When they make eye contact, it is clear he knows that she might realize who he is. “There was something dark about him. Something mean.” (172)
She and her Uncle Donny have another meeting to discuss her innocence. She decides to persuade them by writing down the death dates of the Captured Felons listed on the wall. She literally marks their photos with a felt pen to prove she truly knows when people are going to die, as well as those who have already. Both Feds agree that it does not change the case.
To make matters worse, evidence is piling up against Stubs. They find a knife with dried blood on it in his nightstand and it happens to be the same blood type as Payton. They also find boots that match footprints found at the crime scene, a cigarette box in his trash can (the victims were burned with butts), screenshots of searches on his phone, AND Stubs was seen in her neighborhood skateboarding on the day she was murdered.
Since he is now linked to Tevon’s murder as well due to the stack of evidence Maddie may also be listed as a coconspirator.
Later, at the park, she sees her crush Aiden and he is talking to her like they are old friends! She notices he is wearing large tan boots, and I cannot help but wonder if they have a similar footprint to the ones found at the crime scene. As he left, “a large cloud moved across the sky to hide the sun, and I shivered with cold again and… something sad.” (196)
To make matters worse, her mother gets into an accident and earns her third DUI. It looks like this time she may be facing some serious jail time.
Q: Even though we know she has a disease (alcoholism), how could she do this to her daughter? At the worst possible time?
Since her mom is in jail, she spends time with an overly sweet older neighbor, who looks out for her in motherly ways. While at her house, she talks with the same furniture mover as before. This time, he has someone with him who gives her the creeps. She discovers both men have the same death date. She suggests that they do not work together on that date, just in case.
Q: Why would you work on the day you were going to die? Wouldn’t you find something better to do?
She decides to visit Stubby’s mom and learns that he has been assaulted violently in jail. He is in the hospital with a severe concussion; Donny wants him moved to solitary confinement for safety, but the Feds will not budge—they want him to crack and blame Maddie too. Unfortunately, they are also going to go after a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
While visiting her mom in the hospital (detoxing from alcohol) she has a complete breakdown. “All of the anguish I felt over my dad, my mom, and Stubby came tumbling out…I crumpled to the floor…the sobs kept coming: an ocean of grief, fear, and worry pounding me into the surf.” (222-223)
Then, she feels herself being strapped to a gurney and a needle going into her arm; possibly a sedative to help calm her down.
Q: Would they actually do that in a hospital if you were overly upset and crying?
When at home, she finds out from Donny that her mother has a chance for a plea bargain if she agrees to rehab. “It’s my fault she drinks… she drinks because she blames me for Dad. She does not want to blame me, but I know she does. And that’s my fault, too. I should’ve told him, Donny. I should’ve figured out what the numbers meant, and I should’ve told him.” (228-229)
Donny admits that when her gift was first discovered, her mom did not believe it to be true, but her father suspected her gift. Now, her mom blames herself for not believing, and that is really the reason she drinks.
In talking about her father and how heroic he was on the day he died, she decides to get gutsy and talk to the Feds alone; she wants to prove to them that she can see death dates. She asks one of them to test her with photos of people that she would not know or be familiar with. This will hopefully turn their opinion and see her as innocent.
Q: Do you think it is a good idea? Did you think it would sway their opinion?
The test works! “Truthfully, Maddie… you and Arnold [Stubs] don’t fit the profile for two serial killers…[but] we have to follow the evidence… And there was a lot that pointed to the two of you.” (242)
Agent Farady pulls out a report that states that the two murders were performed by “the same person…Likely to be a lone white male between thirty and fifty-five. A guy with a whole lot of repressed rage. A guy with sick fantasies but above-average intelligence…very good about hiding in plain sight…he takes his rage out on kids in their teens because he seems to have some sort of sick vendetta against them. They represent some sort of trigger for his anger, and he vents that anger at them by torturing and killing them…it’s highly unlikely either you or Arnold is the murderer.” (243)
Q: Do you really think the feds would have divulged all the evidence and case information to Maddie?
Thankfully, Stubs is going to get out of jail, but there is another kid that has gone missing. His death date is not for another 60 years, thankfully, but the Feds are upset she is unable to give any more details. Donny says, “She’s been honest with you from the start, and all you did was throw her best friend in jail and put her under the microscope for the past couple of weeks. The least you can do is have a little respect for her abilities.” (251)
The Feds start to put together that Maddie is in some way connected to each of these murdered or abducted kids. They start to piece together the people that have given her trouble, especially Mr. Chavez, the teacher who has creeped her out and been uncomfortably rude for quite some time. It just so happens that he drives a pickup truck and smokes — which fits the description of the murderer.
She tries to see Stubs once he is back home, but he is not ready to be seen yet or talk to her, much to her disappointment.
After reviewing the different cases, the Feds see a clear connection between Maddie and the murderer. “Whoever this killer is, I believe he’s obsessed with you. And I’m now convinced that he’s also been stalking you and your clients. You’re connected to each of these kids – loosely in one case, but still connected.” (270)
Q: How would it feel to be this closely connected to a killer?
Suddenly, something absolutely weird happens. She sees a picture of one of the agents and his death date keeps changing — it flips back and forth between the current date and one in the future! This has never happened before; the dates have always stayed the same!
Agent Faraday discovers that he was in contact with a delivery driver who happens to be Wes, the man who freaked out Maddie recently by leering at her. They go on a wild ride to find Wes’ home and thankfully find agent Wallace alive, his numbers still flickering back and forth.
Q: Do you really think a federal agent or a cop would take a young person on a dangerous investigative search?
The numbers stop flickering and she tells the agent that Wallace is going to make it. “You saved his life Maddie.” (287)
Later on that evening, after hanging out with Stubs, she comes home to find Rick, the nicer delivery man who was always so kind to her. But now he had a “sick smile – similar to the one his cousin had worn. Sinister and dark, but perhaps even more evil. This was the smile of a serial killer.” (294)
He begins to explain himself to Maddie, “I [got] all my affairs in order… I did it all. But then those dark cravings that I’d fought against my whole life started to crop up again and I had an amazing thought. I was going to die soon anyway, right? Why not act on some of those thoughts…I wondered what it be like to stop trying to be someone else and instead let me be me. So I did. And…it’s been awesome.” (295-296)
Q: Who would have guessed it was the sweet delivery driver?
Rick confesses EVERYTHING. He discusses his cravings and how satisfying it was to watch those young people die. He confesses that he killed Wes and shot the agent; he even wrote out a suicide note that included a “confession” from Wes to connect him to the murders.
For some reason, even though it is his death day, at one minute to midnight, he’s still alive. “If the clock strikes midnight, and I am still alive, then I get to finish what I started with you. You get to be my next little lamb, but I’m going to drag it out for as long as I can, because people who lie about such important things…deserve to feel some pain.” (300)
Maddie and Rick struggle in a fight, but just in the nick of time, Faraday busts through the door and shoots Rick dead. Even though the clock said it was after midnight, the reader is reminded that the clock was ten minutes fast—so the death date was still accurate.
Now that the killer has been brought to justice, through death, Maddie and Stubs get back to real life. Faraday comes to the school for a special assembly to honor them both, in a special ceremony that includes commemorative badges and fifty thousand dollars!
Surprisingly, agent Faraday moves into Mrs. Duncan’s old house with his son…who just so happens to be Aiden, Maddie’s crush. He asks for his date, and sweetly she responds that it is the day after hers.
“In a magical instant, I saw a series of other numbers dance across his skin. They appeared in the space between us as if they were as much for me as they were for him. Behind each new date was a glimmer of insight. They were dates for movies and dances and graduations and marriage and children and anniversaries and so much more. And in that enchanted moment, as I watch the dates skipping lightly across Aiden’s forehead, instead of death all I saw was…Life.” (323)
Q: What do you think of the ending? Is it believable?
My Final Thoughts
While the idea of the storyline is entertaining, I felt it could have been stronger. It does contain quite a few unbelievable elements – from the Federal Agents being so open about the murder case with Maddie, to the way they investigated her and her best friend, as well as how they divulged critical and top-secret case information, and to her mother so easily overcoming alcoholism, I couldn’t fully believe what was happening. For a young adult fiction novel, however, younger readers may not find these to be a distraction.
In the end, the author does tie up ALL loose ends, so the reader will be appeased once the story ends. I did appreciate and enjoy how Maddie is destined to be with her crush, Aiden, and how romantic it is that his death date is the day after her own. It is a sweet gesture that I am sure younger readers would gush at as well. I also liked how she was able to change the death dates of her classmates and her mother (even though the ability only suddenly worked at the end of the novel).
If you’d like to give it a try (and support local bookstores), find the book here: When by Victoria Laurie on Bookshop.org
If you’d like to check out the book on Amazon, find the book here: When by Victoria Laurie