This is a bit of a science fiction thriller, with a kind of dystopian slant to it. In this future, scientists have identified a gene that causes people to be violent. And they have also figured out a way to test for it. The begin testing all people for it, and those who test positive for the gene, whether they've done anything or shown any tendencies whatsoever are now registered with the government, and have new rules they must follow. The main character is Davinia, or Davy as she prefers to go by. She comes from a nice family, in a pretty nice neighborhood, she is even able to go to a private school. She has been accepted to Juilliard, because as long as anyone can remember she has been a musical prodigy. She can pick an instrument up and just know or quickly learn how to play with no help. Her boyfriend is "the man on campus" and she has a wonderful best friend named Tori. As I mentioned she has a nice family, including an older brother, one who seems to get into trouble a lot.
One day at school she gets a call from her mom, telling her she needs to come home right away. She is afraid something has happened to her brother, but her mother won't say anything over the phone. She arrives home to find her principal and a government official who tell her that she has tested positive for the HTS (Homicidal Tendency Syndrome). Because of this she has been "uninvited" from her school. She must now attend the public school nearby. And she is given all sorts of rules and told she must report to the official's office. When she gets there she sees others and wonders if they are there for the same reason. As she is getting ready to leave, a tall, very attractive, yet extremely scary boy around her age walks in. Scary because he has the H tattoo on his neck, which she has learned comes from just one infraction of the rules.
When she gets to her new school, she finds out she is now attending with 5 other HTS positive students. Their classroom is a cage down by the gyms and locker rooms. There is a teacher, who is just there for supervision basically, because all their assignments are sent to them from the office and they are to work on them by themselves. Life is a total change for Davy now. The supervisor teacher is kind of creepy, two of the other students are also creepy and definitely violent. There is only one other girl, and Davy soon learns about what she does to survive. Because as an HTS positive, it is like there are no rules, people can do anything to you, but if you do anything back, then you're the one who is in trouble, not them. And when there is a school shooting, the outside world begins to get scared, and even attack HTS positive people for no reason. So all the HTS will be rounded up.
Davy doesn't know what will happen to her. How will her friends and boyfriend deal with this? And who is this scary new guy she's met, and is he really as scary as he seems? And will she begin to exhibit violent characteristics? Even her own family treats her differently.
A really great story, and I do love the way it is promoted as The Scarlett Letter meets The Minority Report. Just a great, riveting, edge of your seat story. Oh yeah, and here I am with the author from last May.
