Deadline: A Review

If you've ever felt like it was better to go down fighting then surrender just to survive for a bit longer, then you would know how Ben Wolf feels. Ben is diagnosed with a terminal ill need and given a year to live at age 18, and decides to deny treatment and make the best of what time he has left.

But what can one do in such a short time to make up for a lifetime that won't be experienced? Ben has 3 big things decided, but of course his plans evolve over time, as he sees that he can do much more in one year than only benefit himself. ...First, he decides to give his history class a tune up. He gives his teacher hell, all in the spirit of education. He reveals and wages war against the lies and propaganda rooted in our textbooks and lectures. Second, there's the fair Dallas Suzuki. He decides to pretty much go out with her, and get, well, you know. And third on his great list, is Football. Ben's brother, Cody, is the football star of the school, and Ben wants to be able to feel what his brother feels, at the same time savor the brotherhood between him and Cody.

Along with accomplishing these 3 things, Ben takes on other things as well, including helping out the local drunk, Rudy, who is also a mechanic. Ben discovers that there's a long story behind Rudy, one that explains a lot, and definitely leaves things to be explained as well.

Throughout the book you see how much more mature Ben become in the one year he has left. He learns things and feels feeling that some take a lifetime to experience. You wish he didn't have to die, because of hoe much he grows, and how valuable what he learns is. It makes the reader sad to see all this only able to be used in the rest of the year.

I found Deadline to be an overall very enjoying read. It cracks jokes, but still covers important and serious topics. A quick read, Deadline will leave you wishing that the book wouldn't end, or that ended less sadly.

Deadline is the book you wish they would make a movie out of, but probably won't. It's an undiscovered gem, one to definitely pick up at the Library or Bookstore.