Rent: Code Orange (Readers Circle)

WARNING! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NO READ THE BOOK!!! IT SPOILS THE ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney is a suspenseful thriller about a teen who could possibly be infected by a deadly virus with no cure. “I know soldiers in Iraq are afraid. I know refugees in… Afghanistan are afraid. But they can see the thing they are afraid of. I can’t see the thing I’m afraid of. I can’t even tell if its there.” Mitty Blake is terrified, like most people would be in his situation. The story takes place in present day New York City. Code Orange was a captivating thriller about a boy’s heroic sacrifice for his country.
Mitty Blake was a typical, carefree sixteen year-old. He slacked off in school and did not care about flunking. However, when Mitty’s biology teacher gave an assignment on diseases, he was a little a little worried. With only two days left to write a huge essay, he reluctantly began.
As Mitty searched for a topic, he found three old, musty books printed in the 1800’s. Hoping to finish the project quickly, he leafed through the pages finding an old envelope. Inside were two smallpox scabs which he tossed aside. Mitty finally decided to do his project on smallpox and rushed to finish in time.
While Mitty researched, he found out how deadly smallpox was. Everyone died from the disease, and by the time the symptoms appeared, it would already be too late for a cure. No one ever survived. As Mitty read, he came to a horrible conclusion that he may have been exposed to the virus through the smallpox scabs. The entire time, Mitty fought with his doubts, trying to persuade himself that he did not have smallpox. However, as he learned more, he could no longer lie to himself. Mitty faced the facts that he was dying from smallpox.
Mitty was haunted by the thought of dying but also horrified of spreading his disease to everyone in New York. There was only one way to spare everyone from his same fate. If Mitty died, then the virus would die inside of him. Mitty knew it was already too late for him to live, but why should everyone else have to suffer? Suicide seemed so cruel to Mitty, but it was the only way. As Mitty was leaving, terrorist kidnapped him and locked him in a cellar. Smallpox is the number one bio-terrorist weapon. The terrorists planned to use Mitty as their weapon, infecting everyone with smallpox. Mitty would not allow himself to die while terrorist still roamed around, planning their next attack. He lured the terrorists into his cellar, trapping the terrorists inside with him. Then, Mitty caused a carbon monoxide leak, knowing that the deadly gas would kill everyone in the cellar, including himself. However, Mitty managed to barley escape and call 911. The FBI found Mitty and rushed him to the hospital. Doctors ran tests and realized that Mitty did not have smallpox after all.
We hear of heroes all the time on the news. However, when actually challenged to die for your country, would you? Mitty was willing to. He planned to suffer just so that no one else would. Not many people would be willing to go through that.
I stayed up until 2 am reading this book. I was completely hooked and could not put the book down. The author made everything so realistic, which made the story come alive. However, I didn’t like the ending. The entire book was about Mitty having smallpox and how he would die. The ending just completely ruined the plot, claiming it was all a false alarm. Besides the lame ending, I loved this book and would recommend it to someone who loves thriller stories.