This chilling and riveting debut novel explores how far the wealthy will go to live their lives as long as possible and in as beautiful and youthful a face and body as money will buy.
Sixteen-year-old narrator Callie Woodland is a Starter "in a sea of silver-haired Enders." Spore wars have wiped out nearly a generation of people. Only the elderly and the young were inoculated against the fatal spores. Medical breakthroughs allow people to live to be 200 but cannot halt the aging process. So wealthy Enders pay top dollar to a company called Prime Destinations to "rent" the body of a Starter via a microchip embedded in the Starter donor's brain. Callie and her ailing seven-year-old brother, Tyler, squat in abandoned buildings and scrounge for food. A contract for one session with Prime Destinations will earn Callie enough to buy a home for them. But something goes wrong with Callie's microchip. She resumes her body partway through her rental and discovers that she's part of her renter's plot to take down Prime Destinations--as an assassin.
With exquisite pacing, Price weaves a web of intrigue that involves the exploitation of children and corruption at the highest levels of society. Her themes touch on today's realities, such as an obsession with youth and beauty, and high unemployment coupled with a longer life expectancy. Teens will find a champion in Callie, who strives to be true to her sense of morality while also providing a safe harbor for those she loves. Price concludes her tale with Enders, scheduled for December 2012. Readers will be waiting at the edge of their seats. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness