The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

Gr 8 Up—Henry has turned up the intensity several notches from her previous YA books with this edge-of-your-seat thriller. The novel begins with a girl regaining consciousness just in time to hear her own death sentence: "Finish her off!" She outsmarts her would-be killer and escapes in his car, but she has no memory of who she is, where she is, or why she is being hunted. She figures she must be at least 16 as she knows how to drive. Many of the short, action-packed chapters cover mere minutes, while others encompass an hour or two. Aided by Ty, a nice guy she meets at a fast-food place, she escapes the first set of men trailing her and uses the Internet to piece together her story. According to articles and a Facebook profile, she is Cady Scott, a troubled runaway from Oregon who might be involved in a murder. But certain tbits of information they find don't make sense. Cady and Ty go on the run, stealing a car to return to Portland to piece together her identity. The plot thickens to include biological weapons, double-crossing, and corporate intrigue. The employees of Z-Biotech, the evil company Cady's parents worked for, seem almost unbelievably unethical, but most readers will be racing to turn the pages without questioning details. Suggest this one to fans of Stefan Petrucha's Split (Walker, 2010) and Matt Whyman's Icecore (2007) and Goldstrike (2010, both S & S) for a good adrenaline rush with the tiniest hint of romance.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX