WARNING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL

I generally hate anything that even hints at involving politics, whether it be a political thriller, a political scandal story or even a romance involving any sort of politician. Frankly it all bores me. However I really liked this survival/chase story coming on the heels of a politically based attack on the country’s banks. It sort of reminded me of the Terminator movies. There was no evil Sentient machines trying to take over, but the main characters are running for their lives and being chased by a foe that can’t seemed to be stopped.

In this story the evil sentient machine was replaced by the new president of the United States, Ammon Carter. The book takes place in the not too distant future and there are two political parties that exist. One is called “The Spark” whose candidate was David Rosenthal, his campaign slogan was “Everyone’s for Rosenthal”. The Spark was all about everyone being equal. The Spark has been in power for ten years and that party is all about taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

There are still rich people, but it seems that the party has done so much giving to the poor that the country is now in a New Depression and some people are disgruntled. President Carter’s party is called “The Opposition” and since “Everyone’s for Rosenthal”, it is widely known that Ammon Carter and the Opposition cheated to get into power.

Jinx Marshall is the main character. She is a 17 year old girl from a broken home. Her Dad Max Marshall was a genius that got obsessed with the end of the world as we know it and got really int survivalism. He taught his family all sorts of survival skills, took his family along to survivalist conventions, simulations and gave them constant drills until Jinx’s Mother couldn’t take it anymore.

Her Mom is now married to the Head of Security at a large bank. Jinx and her younger brother Charles live with them and her stepsister Mackenna. The three are together when banks across the country are blown up. They have to get back together with their family, including Mackenna’s brother Toby who is at the University. Jinx finds some code in a computer that has something to do with the attacks and they end up running from an agent of the Opposition who is singular in his mission to find them.

There are so many twists and turns in this book, but it is a book I couldn’t put down until I literally fell asleep reading. The characters are awesome, Jinks was trained for the situation so she can handle weapons and can fight, but she is still a teenage girl so she just wants things to go back. Charles is a kid with type 1 diabetes who will eat sweets whenever he can, he also has a fascination with growing things and is so cute at times when talking about gardening or species of plants. Mackenna wants to be a journalist and was a huge supporter of Rosenthal.

The book was just very good. It kept me guessing the entire time. I had no clue who was good and who was bad. The parents were keeping secrets from the kids and I was getting so frustrated but loving it also. There wasn’t really a cliffhanger, it was one of those things where you could technically consider it an and but also a new beginning. I will definitely read Day One.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At this point time, this book was a very telling read. The book follows a story of a young woman who was raised by a well known doomsday prepper father and is currently living with her mother and her new stepfather. I didnt know this would be the first in a series so I am quite excited for the next installment. However, the tale is an interesting and disturbing one at the point in history we currently find ourselves. Her stepfather is accused of blowing up the national bank and wreaking mass havoc in the world, causing the already mildly unhinged president to instate martial law and begin hunting him. A little terrifying and a lot compelling, I read this book during most of my spare time and you should too.

Thank you Netgalley, and to the publisher, for the arc.

This was a good, solid book. It's something, in a sense, that could possibly happen. A doomsday, due to technology meltdown and a collapse of the government. It's a a little futuristic, and has a lot of technological speak, but it was a good take on dystopian YA.

You guys may know that I'm not the biggest fan of YA literature - more accurately, it's just not a go-to genre of mine. But, I was really intrigued by this one when HarperCollins asked me to read it. I have to say, this is a phenomenal, roller coaster of a ride! The twists and turns are endless and you WANT to root for these kids - well, teens. :-) It goes for a dystopian-esque sort of feel, while still being very contemporary and modern-day. In fact, the political infrastructure of this novel is very sophisticated for YA, and this book has some good moments of social commentary.

I've never read Kelly deVos' work before, but I was thrilled to be a small part of the process for Day Zero, and I HIGHLY recommend it to lovers of YA.

This thriller started out so well!! But as the story went on it suffered from a few things. First it was a set up for book two which was kind of unneeded. It could have been a stellar story on its own and then book two could have come back and finished the story at large. We really didn't need a set up for that. The other issue was that this is just one more title that really didn't need a romance. It felt shallow and just well not needed. I don't know why a lot of ya authors think that every story needs a love interest. Because, they don't. Girls and boys of today can stand on their own without falling head over heals. The last issue was the political sections of this title. I wished they would have been woven a little better into the story. As whenever they showed up it felt like it stopped the story and just focused on that one aspect. It was almost like info dumping but in a different way I guess you could say. The characters overall were great. Although some of them felt all over the place. Like they weren't sure which side they were really on. And I mean being teens I guess you could say that that made them feel real. But I kept thinking that I wish these people would make up their minds.

Overall, I think this one would work great for those who can overlook the issues. I also think that if you are into predystopian reads that this one you might enjoy.

This apocalyptic gem from Kelly deVos is a first purchase for public YA and high school collections alike.

The fast pace kept this one engrossing and it certainly had me guessing until the end. Frequently in survival stories, the technical element of things can sort of take over, but this included both the strategic piece and the character piece, which was great. I especially appreciated that managing the practicalities was included - making sure to stock up on period supplies, and needing to keep on top of Charles's blood sugar (although the latter faded out as the book went on).

I will say that I found the political reality of the world a little muddled. The back and forth political debates sort of stopped the action in its tracks. Perhaps it's mostly setup for the second book in the duology? I felt the same way with Toby's "falling in love" later in the book - if there isn't more included in the sequel, it feels a bit shallow and like something of a waste of time.

The characters were mostly well-drawn and engaging, although I found both Jinx and Gus/Navarro to be a little lacking in clear personality, and their attraction to be predictable but not overly well-founded.

Certainly an entertaining option to pick-up if you like action and near-future dystopia.

Day Zero went interesting places as a young adult story (and a novel older readers can enjoy too). I found the main character to believable and likeable, which helped as the narrative took its turns. I would gladly share this book with young adults interesting in a bright new voice.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Gotten be real here. The description of this book does not do it justice.

I lived Susan and I loved the well-orchestrated twists and I cannot wait for the sequel!

Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the egalley of Kelly deVos’s Day Zero in exchange for an honest review. The book releases on November 12.

“If you’re going through hell, keep going” (loc. 3896).

Day Zero, a near-future YA thriller, launches the reader into a frighteningly familiar world dominated by political conflict between two parties. The Opposition focuses on rugged individualism and oppose taxes on the rich, while The Spark embraces identity politics and using government to seek equality for all and to eradicate poverty. After the New Depression created unrest in the U.S., The Opposition took advantage of citizens’ resentment to elect Ammon Carver to the Presidency, which he won with “money, influence, bigotry and hate” (loc. 941).

In the midst of this world is Susan “Jinx” Marshall, who lives with her mother, a teacher; her stepfather Jay, a security expert at a bank; younger brother Charles; and stepsister Makeeba. Her stepbrother Tyrell, on whom Jinx has a huge crush, is away at school. Jinx’s dad, Dr. Maxwell Marshall, is Dr. Doomsday, a survival expert whose book Dr. Doomsday’s Guide to Ultimate Survival provides advice for how to survive if (when?) an apocalypse hits. Advice from Dr. Doomsday appears throughout Day Zero, reminding us that “Everyone in this world seeks power. Those who will stop at nothing to attain it will also never willingly relinquish it” (loc. 483). He is also friends with Ammon Carver, a fact that drives another wedge between Jinx and Makeeba, a fierce advocate for The Spark and its failed Presidential candidate David Rosenthal.

Jinx is a compelling protagonist. She’s still getting used to her new family and has a truly sisterly relationship—non-stop bickering—with her new step-sister. She is incredibly protective of her little brother Charles, an adorable, eight-year-old herbologist who is diabetic, which has a big impact on events. Jinx’s relationship with her parents is complex: she both wishes they would have stayed together while understanding why her mother left her father, who forced the family to run extreme survival drills that left her disconnected from her peers . . . and society. Jinx is brilliant but often has a better understanding of computers and the virtual world than she does of the people around her. Each person in her family pulls or pushes Jinx in a different direction, and her reactions to each reveal a new facet of her identity. Terminus, Jinx’s best friend and her father’s protege, who she knows only virtually, and the mysterious and handsome Gustavo Navarro, who also knows her father, provide additional complexity as we come to understand Jinx.

DeVos creates a clear, distinct, and well-developed world within a chapter or two and then sets off a series of explosions that changes everything. Jinx, Makeeba, and Charles escape because of Dr. Marshall’s survival training and then return to a home in chaos to find that Jinx’s stepfather has been accused of being part of a conspiracy against the government. As she tries to keep her family together, Jinx must deal with a shifting understanding of who to trust. Pursued by agents of The Opposition, Jinx and her family work through one challenge after another, striving both to survive and for something more, to act morally as they come to understand the roots of an insidious and power-hungry corruption that goes deeper than they initially understand.

Day Zero strikes the balance between the personal and the political beautifully, reflecting the tension that dominates Jinx’s own life. The secondary characters work well to help the reader understand Jinx: her maturity, the moments when she falls into a natural self-interest, and her conflicted loyalties. I thoroughly enjoyed both the adventure-packed plot and deVos’s attention to deeper political and psychological issues. Watching the way these characters react to the changing society provided insight into the world of the book and—as the best books do—raised fascinating questions about our own world. I thoroughly enjoyed Day Zero and look forward to Kelly deVos’s conclusion to this duology.

The book is set in the future. Susan aka jinx is a 17 year old with a small brother, stepbrother, and stepsister. Her mother and father divorced, and her mother remarried. A new president of the United States has been elected. The political climate is tense. All of a sudden chaos breaks out. Across the country banks have been bombed. Susan's stepfather is accused of being responsible for the bombs. Susan's father is a prepper, and has run his children through drills for an apocalypse for years. When het stepfather is arrested, Susan goes on the run with her siblings seeking her father. The newly elected president has dispatched men and soldiers to find the children to use them as leverage. This book is a thriller that's kept me om edge throughout the entire book. I can't wait to read the second book in this series entitled "Day One".

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

I wasn't sure I"d enjoy this book based on the concept of doomsday, but it was definitely more interesting than I expected!

There was a bit of technological talk that I didn't quite follow as much, but other than that, the characters were well thought out, easy to like, and the book was great.

Such an enthralling read! I made the mistake of deciding to begin reading one night when I couldn't sleep and, boy, was that a mistake! I couldn't stop!! Kelly deVos does an excellent job of keeping the reader engaged with plot twists, authentic characters and fun bits of symbolism and allusions that will keep you screaming into the political void.

This story surprised me in a good way, I didn't expect to like it so much!It was fast paced and I find the story interesting and brilliant!There were twists and many things happening to keep your interest till the end!If you are looking for an unforgettable story that will keep you on edge!

Such an enthralling read! I made the mistake of deciding to begin reading one night when I couldn't sleep and, boy, was that a mistake! I couldn't stop!! Kelly deVos does an excellent job of keeping the reader engaged with plot twists, authentic characters and fun bits of symbolism and allusions that will keep you screaming into the political void. I will definitely be recommending this book to my students.