Overall Rating: 8.2/10
The book is about two men: Victor and Eli. We learn throughout the book about their rocky history and how they essentially started as college roommates and close friends then suddenly Eli betrayed Victor , as such sentencing Victor to prison.
Eli, during his college times, was researching EOs (ExtraOrdinaries) for his thesis, he found out that all EOs that developed abilities had a common thread: they all underwent a NDE (Near Death Experience). Victor has the bright idea (sarcastic of course) of trying to kill himself with Eli’s supervision in order to experience near death thus hypothesizing this will result in him gaining special abilities and turning into an EO. His first attempt failed, which only served to encourage Eli to succeed on his own first attempt, which he does. Eli’s ability is regeneration, he can heal himself and never physically ages. Eli’s refusal to help Victor’s second attempt, drove Victor into fury, resulting in him coercing his friend/ Eli’s girlfriend, Angie, to help him ‘die’ by electrocuting him. Victor manages to become an EO, his ability was to take away his pain or others pain, but that also meant he can give pain back.
However, Victor accidentally kills Angie when he touches her right after being revived as he couldn’t control his ability. This was what he was thrown into jail for, as once Eli found out, he called the police and told them Victor was an EO and killed Angie.
Victor manages to escape from prison after spending 10 years in it, 5 in solitary confinement and 5 out of it. He escapes with his cell mate Mitchell Turner (Mitch). As they escape in their stolen car, Victor picks up a girl they see on the street who he was drawn to. The girl Sydney, is around 12, and is also an EO as Victor will come to learn, she has the ability to bring the dead back to life. She was shot in the arm by her sister’s boyfriend, who was coincidentally Eli. Essentially, the story revolves around Victor seeking revenge on Eli for betraying him. Eli views all EOs, other than himself (how convenient), as being ‘unnatural’ and believes it his mission as declared by God to rid the world of them. Serena, Sydney’s sister, is also an EO. She can manipulate people to do anything she wants. Serena and Eli team up to carry out the executions of EOs, including the one of her own little sister. Eventually, Victor is able to get Eli thrown into jail after they meet and Eli kills Victor, but as Eli can self regenerate and thus has no visible wounds, he couldn’t prove that Victor was actually the one to attack him. Also, the entire police force was under the ‘spell’ of Serena, but once she was killed, they stopped viewing Eli as a ‘hero’ and viewed him rightfully as a murderer. Because Sydney can bring back the dead, she was able to bring Victor back, but without his abilities. However, he got what he always wanted: revenge on Eli.
I really enjoyed the way the chapters are formatted in this book. Unlike normal books, this one isn’t in chronological order. For instance, the first chapter is titled as ‘Two Days Ago, Merit Cemetery’ but it jumps back and forth between multiple POVs and time stamps. So as I continue to read, I gradually learn more and more about the story. I found this to be a wonderful way of grasping the attention of readers. If I could, I am certain I would’ve read this book in one sitting.
