Customer Reviews

Denton Little's Deathdate

The premise of Deathdate doesn’t make sense: a breakthrough in DNA testing leads to scientists being able to pinpoint the day you’ll die and then the US government passes a law requiring you to be death tested. Why? It’s not explained, and because it’s not, much of what happens en route to poor Denton’s demise at eighteen, on the night of the senior prom, is underdetermined –I’m being nice: it doesn’t make sense. Then there’s the rash that moves up Denton’s body the day before he is to die: the explanation for it is thin, thin, thin, but that’s true of all of the scientific stuff in this Young Adult fantasy fable about a world where everybody knows when their end comes and the hero’s (Denton) is due to within the next day and a half.

That’s what’s weak in Denton Little’s Deathdate, but there’s a lot that right in it too. First of all, it’s a neat conceit: you know you’re going to die but it’s up to you how you get there: are you going to be jerk or a saint? Denton’s neither but he tends more toward the good side, hero perhaps rather than jerk, but through it all eighteen, with all that’s right and wrong with being that old and no older. Rubin has down cold the way young people think and act and his command of sub-twenty dialogue is pretty cool. Denton himself is cool. Knowing he’s going to die tomorrow, he still tries to navigate through it.

At one point, his dad, who’s a nice guy but clueless, has this brief exchange with Denton:

“Hey, Dent. Having a good night?”

”Under the circumstances, yeah. I guess so. You?”

“Yeah, you know. It’s been a little tense in these parts.”

“A little tense in these parts”? Maybe that’s not high drama but it’s pretty funny given the onrushing series of catastrophes that befall Denton in his final hours.

This isn’t a deep book, and some of the connections in it don’t quite make sense, but it’s an enjoyable book. I suspect sixteen to eighteen-year-olders will like it. Denton and his friends and family are cool, Denton’s feelings and problems (other than his impending death) are the ones kids his age tend to feel, and while the adventure is hokey it’s fun to follow. Besides, you have to like a book that has a character who’s the Secretary of the US Department of Life Conclusions (acronym USDLC). I won’t tell you what happens to Denton but yes, you root for him all the way through.