Review : When by Victoria Laurie

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : When
Author : Victoria Laurie
Publication Date :  January 13th 2015
Publisher : Disney Hyperion
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Maddie Fynn is a shy high school junior, cursed with an eerie intuitive ability: she sees a series of unique digits hovering above the foreheads of each person she encounters. Her earliest memories are marked by these numbers, but it takes her father’s premature death for Maddie and her family to realize that these mysterious digits are actually death dates, and just like birthdays, everyone has one.

Forced by her alcoholic mother to use her ability to make extra money, Maddie identifies the quickly approaching death date of one client's young son, but because her ability only allows her to see the when and not the how, she’s unable to offer any more insight. When the boy goes missing on that exact date, law enforcement turns to Maddie.

Soon, Maddie is entangled in a homicide investigation, and more young people disappear and are later found murdered. A suspect for the investigation, a target for the murderer, and attracting the attentions of a mysterious young admirer who may be connected to it all, Maddie's whole existence is about to be turned upside down. Can she right things before it's too late?

Personal Thoughts

The idea of a main character able to see the death dates of people becoming embroiled in a murder investigation was utterly thrilling. I was excited to dive into When because of that. However, When wound up disappointing me because of how unrealistic it was. I think I had built my expectations for this book a little too high.

Ever since her dad died, Maddie has had a bit of a rough life. She didn't until her dad passed away that the numbers she saw on people's foreheads were their death dates, so she was battling with the guilt of not being able to do anything for him and her mother's downward spiral into alcoholism. It also didn't help that she had come across people who had come to her for a reading who had still passed away despite the warning. Warming up to Maddie in the beginning was easy. Her relationship with her best friend, Stubby, was one of the highlights of the book. However, as the story progressed and Maddie was suddenly thrust into the midst of this murder investigation as a prime suspect, she repeatedly made idiotic decisions that had me face-palming multiple times. Making a mistake once is understandable, but over and over again is just pushing the limits of patience. I got the impression that both Maddie and Stubby did not understand how deep in they were. I hard a really hard time wrapping my head around some of the things they did in this book like warning people who are about to die about their impending deaths via letters (because it will be difficult to track) while FBI agents are following their every movement. Maddie also acted like a petulant child as the story progressed, going against everything her uncle (and lawyer) told her. Even when Stubby got arrested, she continued to make these dumb decisions that had me wanting to pull my hair off.

The murder investigation in this book actually kept me on my toes and was the only reason I continued to read the book. However, I was a little annoyed by how unrealistic the book was on many levels. I get that this is a fiction, but there needs to be at least a semblance of realism. The FBI agents in this book were hilarious and that's not a good sign. It was just astounding to me that they would use so much of their time and resources tagging these two teenagers in this murder case which was clearly an act of a serial killer. One of the guys even admits it towards the end of the book that Maddie and Stubby did not fit the profile of the killer. And not only that, but the methods they used to interrogate Maddie were clearly unethical and if this were real-life, these FBI agents would be dismissed asap. Also, that summary is very misleading, especially this part : "attracting the attentions of a mysterious young admirer who may be connected to it all". This doesn't happen at all until the last chapter or so of the book. I honestly don't understand the point of even having Aiden's character int his book because it was so pointless and there was no relationship between he and Maddie at all. All that being said, I'll give it to Victoria Laurie for writing a murder mystery that I only managed to crack towards the end of the book. 

While When had the potential to be a solid mystery book, the unrealistic elements and the annoying characters made this an overall, off-putting book. I had higher hopes for this book.

Rating

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for the e-ARC of When.