
Numbers by Rachel Ward
Numbers is a book that's hard to categorize. It starts out as urban fantasy, then becomes more of an adventure novel, then seems to be a "teaching life lessons" story toward the end.
The heroine, Jem, has a supernatural "gift" that has caused her no end of grief. She sees numbers when she looks at people. As a little girl, she didn't know what the numbers meant — not until her mother's number turned out to be the day she overdosed on drugs. Now a troubled teenager, Jem finds it hard to get close to anyone. How can she get attached to anyone, when she knows the date they will die?
Enter Spider. He's a classmate of Jem's who is teetering on the edge of big trouble. For personal reasons, it took me a little while to warm up to Spider. In Jem's narrative voice, Rachel Ward describes him like this: "One of those people who stand too close to you, doe... Read More