The book starts out with Pepper Roux at age 14 saying that he was going to die that day. Somehow, he switches to his dad's life, being the captain of a ship L’Ombrage. This is where he meets Duchesse and Roche. Roche attempted to attack Pepper, but instead, falls to his death. Next pepper find out that his father's job was sinking boats and when the crew left the ship and he was expecting to die, till Duchesse came back and had 5 drinks with him then fell unconscious. He woke up in Marseille. Pepper shifted to a new life as PEPPER SALAMI cutting food, then he ruined it by sending out random names. He switched to PEPPER PAPIER and became a journalist. Running from what he thought was an angle, he ended up working for a horse dealer. When the horse dealer (Jacques) took the horses to sell to a slaughterhouse, Pepper released them. Later he was in the hospital and this is when he became KONSTANTIN KRUPPE. He the switch to a telegram boy, and the other telegram boys called him Zee. pepper didn’t want to deliver Roche’s death note telegram so he switched lives with him and was now CLAUDE ROCHE. Then joined the french legion with the name LEGION ROCHE. Summing a few chapters, Duchesse saved Pepper and started they started a new life with Roche’s wife Yvette Roche. They traveled to Garavan. The book ends with saying what happened to Pepper, working on skyscrapers and died at age 95.

I liked the thrill this book was, switching between lives and all. The details were good. i liked how every life he made collided 2/3 way in the book, it seemed so confusing and yet the writer continued to make sence of it for the reader. I like how the writer based the story in other cities aside from Paris. it had characters that weren't like each other at all (thats good). it has vocabulary that one would have to pick up a dictionary to understand (i liked that: new words are awesome!)i give this book a five star. ( )

This was not at all what I expected. It was a fun, funny read. Pepper is an imaginative, superstitious youth with a huge heart. Duchesse is the pirate-y personification of Klinger (from M*A*S*H*).

Pros: Emotions roll like the sea in this action-packed adventure with both lovable, deplorable, and misunderstood characters.

Note: Alcohol and getting drunk are parts of this story. It is not glorified (quite the opposite) but those who are sensitive to drinking in books for preteens / teens should be aware.

There's more to our review. Visit The Reading Tub®. While you’re there, add a link to your review.

If it ain't your time, you ain't goin'. A story of a boy 'destined' to die on his 14th birthday, and when he does not, goes and lives his life as though each day were his last, and in so doing, ends up giving his very best and for the betterment of the lives of others. Sprinkled with comedic actions as can only stem from a teenager's viewpoint of life.

Pepper has been told his entire life that he will die by the time he's fourteen. He wakes up as a 14 year old and is still alive. He finds himself cheating death again and again, and he realizes that he enjoys being alive. He goes through job after job, switches names and lives, and gets into one adventure after another, all to stay alive, and all the while he changes the lives of others. ( )

McCaughrean has done it again. I find her writing challanging, it wavers (masterfully) from fantastic to realistic and I feel I'm dragging behind. I appreciate that this isn't a normal orphan tale where there are kindly people around every corner. There isn't, just people who see what they want to see. I'm sure I'll look at this in a month and think, three stars? Surely I meant to give this more? ( )