BOOK REVIEW: Numbers by Rachel Ward

In the tradition of dark young adult novels, Rachel Ward enters the scene with Numbers, a bleak story about 15-year-old Jem, who has the ability to predict the exact date of people's deaths.

The story is set in England, where the protagonist, a troubled teen, is given the ability to see a number- the date when a person is going to die- once she looks into the person's eyes.

Awfully aware of her curse, Jem tries to avoid people and relationships, until she opens up to her classmate Spider, a perseverant boy who insists on knowing more about her.

The story unfolds as one day, when Jem and Spider are about to ride the Ferris wheel, she notices that the people lining up for their turns flash the same number- the current date. It means one thing: terrorists are going to attack London and people are going to die.

Events make a turn for the worse as the two teenagers find themselves at the end of a police pursuit and a race against time, as Spider's death looms.

In her debut novel, Ward manages to create characters with raw emotions that typify the usual troubled teen: seemingly jaded and cynical but nonetheless capable of introspection.

Though the novel's plot is definitely fictional and supernatural themes govern the story, the believability of the characters make it possible for the story to move a bit closer to the readers, through a seemingly seamless marriage of fiction and reality. Ward makes this achievement almost effortless, making her debut novel a definite recommendation for teenagers who like stories with a bit of fantasy and harsh reality.

The affirming messages of the book, sincere despite its dark backdrop, underscore the ability of Ward to use characters effectively in revealing a story's redeeming points.

Parents and others may find the book too transparent in conveying the characters' raw emotions, but the honest language makes Numbers a book different from the rest, determined to carve out its own identity in a genre almost saturated by saccharine plots and typical protagonists.

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