The Odds

The Odds

Odds of dying in a plane crash: 1 in 20,000.
Odds of dying in a motor vehicle accident: 1 in 256.
Odds of living a normal life for Ethan Sorenson: impossible.

Fifteen-year-old Ethan Sorenson lives life on the peripheryâ€¦ and itâ€™s not intentional. A scholarship student at the prestigious Evergreen Preparatory Academy in Seattle, all Ethan wants is to fit in with his prep-school classmates. But Ethanâ€™s divorced mother â€“ a senior actuary at Northwest Life Insurance who calculates insurance risks â€“ is convinced he is going to die. The most mundane moments pose a risk of death according to Ethanâ€™s mother. Life is even worse for Ethanâ€™s four-year-old brother who still wears clothes with snaps and rides in a stroller.

When Ethan befriends the schoolâ€™s star baseball player he gets a chance to break into Evergreenâ€™s elite social circle. He sneaks out at night, he goes to parties attended by his love interest, and his new friend teaches him to drive. But then his crush starts dating someone else and his mom calls the cops when she finds his bed empty in the middle of the night. Desperate to escape his motherâ€™s strange rules, Ethan kidnaps his brother and goes to Oregon on a search for his dad. But Ethanâ€™s fatherâ€™s not in Oregon. Instead he uncovers a family secret that explains his motherâ€™s odd behavior, finds out the truth about the disappearance of a childhood neighbor, and gets a chance to repair his family before itâ€™s too late.

From Publishers Weekly

Ethan, a painfully overprotected teenager and the narrator of this winning story, is a sophomore in high school. His father has been gone for three years. His mother is an actuary for an insurance company, calculating the risk of various mortal accidents. She then imposes her resulting paranoia on Ethan and his brother, only letting them out of the house for study group and not letting Ethan get his driverâ€™s license. Finally, fed-up with watching parties from his bedroom window and being ridiculed by his peers, Ethan starts to take control of his life. Ethanâ€™s voice is strong, consistent, and clear, and the author has done a good job in setting up a plot full of hooks: the mystery of Ethan's next-door neighbor; a strange man Ethan keeps running into; the reason for Ethan's dad's departure and why Ethan hasn't heard from him; and, of course, thereâ€™s the girl he has a crush on. It's refreshing to encounter a YA novel that is a realistic account of a teenager's life that still feels unique and compelling to the end. (This book was reviewed as part of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.)
Country USA
Author Amy Kinzer
Binding Kindle Edition
Format Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages 231
PublicationDate 2011-10-04
ReleaseDate 2011-10-04

Country	USA
Author	Amy Kinzer
Binding	Kindle Edition
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages	231
PublicationDate	2011-10-04
ReleaseDate	2011-10-04

You might also like...