Thirteen Days to Midnight

by Patrick Carman

Overview

You are indestructible. Three whispered words transfer an astonishing power to Jacob Fielding that changes everything. At first, Jacob is hesitant to use the power, unsure of its implications. But there's something addictive about testing the limits of fear.

Then Ophelia James, the beautiful and daring new girl in town, suggests that they use the power to do good, to save others. But with every heroic act, the power grows into the specter of a curse. How to decide who lives and who dies?

In this nail-biting novel of mystery and dark intrigue, Jacob must walk the razor thin line between right and wrong, good and evil, and life and death. And time is running out. Because the Grim Reaper doesn't disappear. . . . He catches up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316088800
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/12/2010
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
File size:	700 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Patrick Carman's previous books in the Land of Elyon series (The Dark Hills Divide, Beyond the Valley of Thorns, and The Tenth City) have all been New York Times bestsellers. He is also the Creative Director of pcstudio, a packager and pioneer of the multimedia "vBook" (video+book), a format launched in 2009 with Skeleton Creek. He recently authored the fifth title in Rick Riordan's 39 Clues series, The Black Circle.

Read an Excerpt

Thirteen Days to Midnight

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By Carman, Patrick

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2010 Carman, Patrick
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780316004039

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MIDNIGHT

Jacob Fielding stood in a small room and stared at a body. It was a dead body, someone he could have saved but chose not to. Jacob had let the person die because, in his view, it was the right thing to do.

He watched in silence, felt the air in his lungs catch and flutter as he tried to stay calm. What was he going to do now? How could he explain? People wouldn’t understand. They’d say he was a killer.

The body hadn’t moved in the seven minutes Jacob Fielding stared at it, but it had made some unpleasant sounds that would lodge in his memory and prove difficult to get rid of.

“All of us play the same tune sooner or later,” Jacob’s best friend said. “The black symphony of the dead.”

Milo Coffin with the dyed hair and the dark humor. He of all people would know.

Jacob took out Mr. Fielding’s Zippo lighter and flicked it open, searching for a distraction. He heard the clank of metal and the sandpaper jingle of fire coming to life.

He held the flame under his fingers and wished it would burn, but it didn’t.

Jacob Fielding had come to believe that death was his closest friend. It was there when he stood in front of the mirror in the morning, there when he wrote and talked and slept. Death was always watching, trying to decide if the time had come to step into the spotlight.

Jacob Fielding was an expert in his field, and death was his subject.

It was the enemy he had come to love.

THIRTEEN DAYS TO MIDNIGHT

Continues...

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Excerpted from Thirteen Days to Midnight by Carman, Patrick Copyright © 2010 by Carman, Patrick. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

A ward of the state for most of his life, Jacob has bounced from home to home until landing with the eccentric and mildly iconoclastic Mr. Fielding-who, when the car they're in hits a tree at 60 miles an hour, dies, but not before passing on an unusual attribute. And with the same three simple words, the 15-year-old forever alters his life and the lives of his two friends, Milo and Ophelia, as he passes along his power of invulnerability. Using the power for altruistic purposes after a period of extreme experimentation, Jacob learns that protection from death comes with a steep price. Instead of offering a horror movie rip-off, Carman explores survivor's guilt and raises theological issues, all within an action-packed and twisted tale. Ophelia's haunting breakdown adds a second layer of complexity to the narrative, though Milo seems to avoid any sort of development. Mr. Fielding's journals offer slightly more exposition than is necessary, but the author pulls the story together without too heavy a hand. Page-turning suspense through the end. (Thriller. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

In this largely successful contemporary dark fantasy, Carman's first book for YA readers, 15-year-old Jacob Fielding has both a secret power and a guilty secret. He is literally indestructible—nothing can hurt him—but gaining this newfound ability cost the life of his kindly but mysterious foster father. When Jacob discovers that he can share his invulnerability with others, he, his friend Milo, and the school's new girl, Oh, test its limits (in cringe-inducing scenes involving a lighter, a 12-foot fall onto a lamp, and a batting cage) and begin using it to save lives. But they learn that playing God—even with the intent to help—has consequences, and as Oh becomes increasingly obsessed with borrowing Jacob's indestructibility, he realizes the power has a dark will of its own, with “unrelenting claws digging into my bones like a cancer.” The novel occasionally suffers from moments of incoherence and its attempts at moral complexity can seem forced, but it produces serious chills and should appeal to readers who have grown out of Carman's Atherton and Land of Elyon series. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7–10—Jacob Fielding, 15, is holding onto a number of secrets—including the truth behind the accident that killed his foster father, but which he survived without a scratch. While keeping some of his secrets to himself, Jacob reveals to his friends Milo and Oh that just before his death, Mr. Fielding gave Jacob the power of invincibility with three words: "You are indestructible." With Oh's prompting, Jacob and his friends try to use the power to save people. However, without a full understanding of the mysterious gift, they may have inadvertently caused much more damage than they could have anticipated. Steven Boyer skillfully narrates Patrick Carman's gripping supernatural thriller (Little, Brown 2010). His youthful voice is consistently believable as teenage Jacob, and his pacing is excellent. Listeners will be on the edge of their seats, cringing at some of the descriptions while mulling over the ethical dilemmas created by Jacob's unique situation.—Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

School Library Journal