They Both Die At The End
"On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torez and Rufus Emeterio to deliver some bad news: they are going to die in less than twenty-four hours. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news is there's an app for that. It's called Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo meet up for one final epic adventure-to live a lifetime in a single day."
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera boldly gives up the ending in the title. Obviously, Mateo and Rufus do both die at the end. However, that is the entire premise of the book. This world is one similar to our own, but there is on fundamental difference. This world has Death-Cast, an organization that can call anyone from midnight to three-in-the-morning to tell them that they are, in fact, going to die today. There can be nothing done to thwart this fate, but there are many ways to live as much as you can in the time you have left.
Mateo and Rufus are polar opposites, but that's just what they need to become who they've always wanted to be in a single day. They bring out the hidden sides of one another. As their day and relationship progresses, so does the day in the book. It starts slow, like all things in the wee hours of the morning, but becomes complex and incredibly interesting towards the end.
The perspective of the chapter changes from being just Mateo and Rufus to the occasional other character. The reader is left intrigued, questioning the relevance of some of these perspectives until the "Aha!" moments arrive and slowly piece in their places.
The reader is also left into the temptation of exception at times. This is a world where nobody has escaped the fate that Death-Cast has awarded them, but you find yourself rooting for the boys, thinking that they could just be the exceptions.
Until they are not, just as the book has always promised, and the emotional deliverance does not disappoint. This is a heart-breaking tragedy that plays on the what-if of knowing your fate twenty-four hours before fruition. It is unforgiving, but incredibly existential. Bravo Mr. Silvera.