The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she’s destined to become a murderer.
When Davy Hamilton’s tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn’t feel any different, but genes don’t lie. One day she will kill someone.
Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he’s not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.
ABOUT SOPHIE
Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History.
A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature – teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.
Erin’s Thoughts
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Uninvited is one of those books where the summary made me shake my head and think…huh? The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report…sounds weird right? Well I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with this one and if you enjoy a book that includes a great story and quite a bit of action all the while giving you the opportunity to determine whether you believe in nature vs. nurture, you might like this one.
Davy Hamilton is living in a world where people believe that deviants are born with something in them that makes them the way they are. The government has decided the only way they can control the population of those that carry the kill gene is to test everyone and make sure they know where they are and what they are doing at all times. They do this by registering them and then tracking just about everything they do. If they break any rules, they run the risk of being imprinted which visually marks them as an HTS.
When Davy’s test comes back positive her whole world is turned upside down. This wasn’t part of her plans and everyone she knows and cares about is afraid of her and convinced that she will kill someone someday. As her life changes, Davy meets others who have tested positive for HTS and eventually comes to rely on them not only as friends but for survival.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Davy is clearly struggling with just how much her life changes over such a short period of time and she definitely changes throughout the book. She goes from leading this sheltered life of privilege to one where she is ostracized for something she might do someday because of a supposed gene.
I can honestly say Tori and Zac pissed me off so kudos to you Sophie Jordan for making me hate them so much. It is so hard to imagine that they could be Davy’s best friend and boyfriend one minute and then treat her the way they did the next. It made my heart hurt for Davy that she had to deal with their prejudice and then ultimately, she was punished for what happened.
I also thought her parents were kind of sucky. It was almost like once they heard about Davy, they completely checked out of her life. Yeah, her dad pretty much vanished and her mom, despite being around, doubted who Davy was and who she was going to be.
Gil is perfect and I love that he becomes the friend that Davy needs when everything goes down. Also knowing he will be around makes me happy.
Sean makes an impact from the first time he shows up on the page and calls Davy Princess. He’s strong physically but he’s been through quite a bit in his life and that has made him strong emotionally as well. He has built up walls to protect himself and when he meets Davy, things change for him. He tries to keep his distance and warns her to stay away but eventually she gets under his skin and Sean can’t seem to make himself not care about her.
Shortly after Davy is identified as a carrier, something happens that causes the government to take action against the carriers. They decide that the best place for all of them is in Detention Camps and Davy realizes she is going to be shipped off. What happens next is where the action begins. Davy, because she is so talented and smart, is one of a few carriers chosen to go to Mount Haven and train. No one is very clear about what she is training for but eventually it becomes clear. The only thing the government wants from them is obedience.
The last half of the book is where most of the action happens and we really see what Davy and the others at Mount Haven are being forced into. It is hard to believe just how much Davy’s life has changed an she clearly struggles with it. When something happens that makes her doubt who she really is, she also struggles with the idea that she deserves to be happy and have a life. I get it but I just wanted her to recognize that she didn’t really have a choice in what happened.
I do wish we had gotten a bit more information on Mitchell. It was implied that he had issues but there wasn’t really any backstory given and all I saw was how much he cared about Davy. I hope we see more of him in the next book.
I will absolutely be waiting anxiously for the next book in the series and am looking to see what Jordan has in store for this group. Hopefully someone will take pity on me and send me an early copy (hint, hint).
Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for the review copy.
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