The Deathday Letter

Okay, I'm just going to start right off and say that Young Adult fiction isn't my usual cup of tea. I read this one because I needed a book by a debut author for my Fall Into Reading Challenge and when I did a search for that sort of thing The Deathday Letter by Shaun David Hutchinson came up several times. And my library actually had it. And the premise sounded interesting. But, just to be absolutely honest, if I'd known before I brought it home that it was YA....I don't know that I'd have ordered it up. Don't hate me, all you dear YA lovers who follow me...it's just who I am.

So what was the premise that reeled me in?

"The clock is ticking...Ollie can't be bothered to care about anything but girls, until he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he's going to die in twenty-four hours. Bummer.

Ollie does what he does best: nothing. Then his best friend convinces him to live a little, and go after Ronnie, the girl who recently trampled his about-to-expire heart. Ollie turns to carloads of pudding and over-the-top declarations, but even playing the death card doesn't work. All he wants is to set things right with the girl of his dreams. It's now or never...."

Hutchinson has written a brilliant first novel. He's bang on target in his characterization of a 15-year old boy dealing with death and hormones all at the same time. The story goes from down-right hilarious ("Because a teenage guy with a penis is like a twitchy marine with a live grenade. Got it?") to heart-rendingly poignant ("There's so much to say, too much to say. I want to tell her that she's the most important thing that ever happened to me. I want to tell her that every night before I went to sleep, it was her that I thought about...").

Following Ollie...and his friend Shane and his love Ronnie...through his last twenty-four hours is a trip I'll never forget. It's the chance to watch a 15-year old "jerk" realize what's important in life--and death. The chance to learn lessons that some of us never learn in a life-time, let alone a single day. Ollie and his friends will make you laugh and cry...and wonder just what you would do if you were certain that you only had twenty-four hours left.

Four stars out of five.