Death Wish by Lindsey Menges

No Monday Malarkey, this week, but I'll try to throw some Tuesday Twaddle at you, tomorrow or maybe I'll just try to post another review.  I still have about a squillion reviews to catch up on although, honestly, I don't mind if NaNoWriMo gets in my way.  I'm having a great time.

Death Wish by Lindsey Menges is my niece's self-published first novel.  I didn't know what to expect (except that it was dystopian) because I like to skip reading the cover blurb so I'll be surprised, but naturally I was eager to read it and ordered a copy as soon as Lindsey announced that it was available via Amazon.

I was immediately swept into the story. Death Wish is the futuristic tale of a 24-year-old woman working as a "Fairy Godmother" fulfilling individual wishes for death in a world where imbedded chips have made humans immortal unless an individual's Life Chip is removed. When Eliza is told she must train new recruit Robin, she's disappointed that she must be separated from her partner in work and love, Harrison. Eliza is dedicated to the job, though, and does as she is told without question, feeling that it's a kindness to fulfill the last wishes of her clients.

****WARNING!  This paragraph may contain a spoilers (but doesn't give away everything - I'd never do that)! Skip to the final paragraph if you want the entire story to be a surprise!!!!*****

But, Robin is no ordinary recruit.  Because fulfilling death wishes is a permanent job, Robin knows she must do her job or face being forced to file her own death wish.  But, she's not handling the job as well as you'd expect of a person who has committed herself for life.  When Eliza finds out Robin has been planted in the organization to find out how the Life Chips work, she must decide whether to join the Revolutionaries who want to return citizens to living lives with natural death or turn Robin over to Security, sealing her fate.

*****END WARNING!!!******

I had a terrible time putting this book down.  On Friday night, when my eyes grew heavy I put the book aside with regret; and, after I finished my own writing for the day on Saturday, I was excited to pick it back up to finish.  It's the first in a series.  Argh!  I want the second book now!

Highly recommended - Wonderful, action-packed storytelling with a nice blend of characters, excellent pacing and a killer ending. I took off half a point due to the need for a bit of work on the editing but there was nothing that made the read uncomfortable enough to irritate me.

You can buy a paperback copy of Death Wish, here (where you can read the full cover blurb).  Or, it's also available for Kindle (link on the same page) or Nook.

In other news:

I'm still enjoying If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.  That Calvino dude had a sly sense of humor. IOaWNaT is a fascinating book and, oh, his writing.  It's just stunning.  I've got at least two other Calvino titles I haven't read (probably bought at during some massively cheap book sale).  I knew of Calvino because the e-zine I used to write for was named after one of his books, t zero.

We went to the zoo, today!  This would have worked better if I knew how to adjust the aperture on my little point-and-shoot, but the idea was good, I think . . . a giraffe trying to tell you to stop and smell the roses, haha:

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