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Jan 6, 2012 ARCHIVES  |  Entertainment  |  COLUMNS

Megan Miranda
Walker
ISBN 978-0802723093
NA pages
$17.99

Reviewed by Mary Quattlebaum

My teenage daughter recently pointed out a disturbing trend: the increasing number of dead girls — prone, glassy-eyed, beautiful — on the covers of young-adult novels. But don’t judge Megan Miranda’s debut by its dark cover. The author, who trained as a scientist, turns in a compelling medical thriller-cum-romance that proves to be surprisingly life-affirming. The premise is chilling, literally and figuratively. Delaney Maxwell, 17, falls through the cracked ice of a Maine lake and awakens from a coma six days later to find herself a medical miracle. Following her dramatic rescue by best friend Decker Phillips, the straight-A student should be dead or severely brain damaged but appears to suffer only (only!) from an uncanny ability to identify those on the threshold of death. Did Delaney’s brush with the Grim Reaper rewire her brain? Heighten her sense of empathy? Frightened and frustrated, Delaney looks for answers and comfort from Troy Varga, another near-death survivor and psychic who surfaces not long after her accident. The tension mounts as Delaney struggles to better understand her feelings for brooding Troy and solid-guy Decker and to cope with her realization that someone may be hastening the predicted deaths. The science angle gives this mystery a fresh, intriguing twist, and Delaney’s intelligent first-person voice and sensitive reflections deepen it. Teens will respond to Delaney as she negotiates the changes that fracture lives and create beginnings as well as endings.

- Mary Quattlebaum

Copyright 2012 Washington Post Writers Group
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