Bits had me bored, then moments had me terrified, but really a good deal of it had me mostly befuddled by how easily things devolved. By 'September 23’ something terrible (a couple of terrible something’s) had already taken place, yet there I was contemplating putting it down… because it was all just so slow and matter of fact. But little by little, it’s not the teenaged girl’s life that’s in my head but instead it’s what was going on around her. Maybe it was just me, but how funny is it that it was people her age who seemed to be doing something more? Tessa and the planting? Or And Gav with what I took to be his hero-complex? It It’s these same facts same fact that had my brow a-furrow. For a couple of young people, they just read so old, and put together! She too with her father the microbiologist(?) manages to make connections that seem quite unlikely and out of her scope. Color me impressed (or should I really say color me doubtful?) Add the fact that a couple of key players just drop out of the picture never to be heard from again. But what’s on one hand interesting then the other part terrifying is how anything bad that could happen did happen to her small island community: virus, mobs, fires and crazy people. Now on a less ambivalent note, I am positively in love with the cover. It’s so lovely; I keep running my fingers over the raised letters- smooth outside, rough inside. That little thumbnail image does not do it justice. 3/5
