Wednesday Review – Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you knew you were going to die?

During a Cross Country physical, high school senior Ben Wolf finds out he has a rare blood disease and has less than a year to live. Crazy thing is Ben’s okay with that. In the back of his mind he never imagined living past the age of eighteen. But Ben isn’t going to live out the last days of his life at the mercy of the doctors. Instead, he opts out of any medical treatment, ignores his doctors request that he tell his family, and sets out to live his senior year to the fullest. That includes dropping his beloved Cross Country and trying out for the football team, wooing the prettiest girl in school, driving his history teacher crazy and rehabilitating the town drunk. Sounds pretty ambitious. Unfortunately, the best made plans never seem to work out the way you want them to.

I LOVED this book. Even though I don’t like to cry, I fell in love with the story idea for Deadline and HAD to read it after seeing a raving review over at the Dear Author: Romance Novel Review site. My favorite romance author, Jill Shalvis, did an awesome job of dragging me in – hook, line and sinker. The story line became a nagging seed and I just couldn’t let it go.

Mr. Crutcher did the unthinkable and made me laugh while simultaneously ripping my heart out. I LOVED Ben! I loved his wit and charm. I even loved his screwed up family and friends. I especially loved that Mr. Crutcher did not cheat the readers on the ending. We all know how the story ends, but I promise the author makes this bearable. I normally wouldn’t recommend something with this serious of a premise, but Deadline is not like any other story I’ve read that deals with death. Trust me when I say you won’t be disappointed.