80/111 - Starters by Lissa Price

I'm reading a lot of fiction aimed at teenagers at the moment, partly because it's easy for me to read at the moment, and also because there's a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction out there, and I'm a total sucker for it. Funnily enough, I saw a trailer for this book in the cinema when I went to see The Hunger Games last week (waaaaay too long) and I was immediately interested with the idea. Now that I think of it, this seems to be the primary way by which I select my books - is the elevator pitch good? If so, then I'm sold.

Callie and her younger brother, Tyler, are orphans, just like most children. After a biological war, everyone between the ages of 20 and 60 is dead, because these people were the last to be vaccinated. Now, you have a world with Starters and Enders, being the young and the old respectively. If you had grandparents, then you were in luck and could stay with them, however if not, you take to life on the streets at the risk of being put in an institution. The Enders are in power, however their bodies are too decrepit to really enjoy life, so one company devises a rental scheme, whereby a young person can be put to sleep and an old person's consciousness is implanted in their body to inhabit for a rental period. The idea is that they get to have their fun, and the donor gets to wake up and take home a load of cash. Obviously, Callie decides to do this as she and her brother are in desperate need of food and medicine, and a roof over their heads, however the person renting her body has some devious plans.

I enjoyed this - the main character wasn't simpering and annoying, and although there are the two de rigueur love interests that she'll obviously have to choose between, it wasn't too overpowering to the whole book. Interesting, but maybe a little simplistic in places. I'll probably read the next one when it comes out.

Next: The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson