Everything in Davy's life is perfect -- a perfect boyfriend, musical genius and a future at Juilliard. But then she's "uninvited" from her own life... because of the "kill gene." 
 And Sophie Jordan crafts a rather chilling depiction of a girl whose genetic "destiny" causes a perfect life to come crashing down, branding her a murderer when she hasn't done anything wrong. It's not too hard to imagine a future where the government decides who is going to be a criminal and punishes them ahead of time, which adds an extra layer of skin-crawling paranoia to this story. 
 On an ordinary day, Davy comes home to find a case-worker waiting for her. From now on, she is to be treated as a criminal -- she has the "kill gene" or HTS, a genetic factor that supposedly turns people into sociopathic mass murderers when triggered. Now though she's never harmed anyone, she's treated as a killer -- her parents consider her "lost," her school "uninvites" her and her old friends and boyfriend instantly turn on her. Only her brother Mitchell still supports her. 
 She also ends up in a public school with a Cage, where the HTS carriers are kept -- sociopaths, thugs and a pervert teacher. The one in charge is Sean O'Rourke, a scornful bad-boy who is imprinted (meaning he has a tattoo that shows he is dangerous). And after she slaps her newly ex-boyfriend, she's imprinted as well. 
 Davy's life is rapidly spiraling out of control, now that she has no friends, no future, and no one she can rely on except Sean and Mitchell. But when a bunch of HTS teens decide to kill people at a mall, the government decides to imprison all the HTS carriers in detention camps -- and Davy and Sean find themselves in a special "school" meant to train the carriers... or destroy them if they don't fall in line. 
 The idea of an inborn "killer" quality isn't a new one. More than a century ago, people had the idea that murder and violent tendencies were passed down genetically, meaning that they could identify people who would become murderers ahead of time. Obviously that isn't how it works, but ignorant, fearful people will desperately grasp onto anything that allows them to blame someone else. 
 And let's face it, if something like HTS was found, the government would gladly violate people's rights to preserve their "we accomplish nothing, but at least we pretend we're protecting you!" approach. After all, who cares about rights when you have voting soccer moms to placate? 
 So there's a terrifyingly realistic undertone to "Uninvited," a sociopolitical undertone that makes it seem all too plausible -- people branded as killers who decide "why not?", cold uncaring agents who claim they're doing "God's work," and innocent kids who are presumed guilty and treated worse than actual criminals. That bleak, steely undertone rings out under the entire book, with some wickedly ironic moments (the mistreatment of carriers is justified for the preservation of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"). 
 You don't often see a dystopian setting as it's created, which is what Jordan creates here -- a nightmare of paranoia and martial law that people gladly accept for the illusion of safety. Her writing is tight and wiry, with splashes of blood and wild emotion. The mayhem starts in little ways -- her parents fighting, the Cage -- but she gives glimpses of the entire country unraveling as Davy's life does, until everything turns into complete mayhem. 
 There's also a romance woven in here, like in most young adult books. But Davy's growing connection to Sean is not just teen hormones -- they grow from a tenuous, shaky alliance to a strong friendship, with flickers of attraction just as the icing on the cake. Their connection would have been just as striking had they been platonic. 
 Despite her musical genius and moneyed family, Davy herself is a thoroughly likable Everygirl -- it hurts to see her swimming against the tide of hate and prejudice, as her old life is slowly washed out from under her feet. Sean is a more enigmatic character, but Jordan deftly avoids the usual bad-boy cliches. He's a strong, intense guy with a powerful moral center which no amount of abuse can extinguish. 
 The ending of "Uninvited" hints at a sequel, which will hopefully show some light at the end of Davy and Sean's tunnel after this bleak, sharp-edged story. A powerful, painfully plausible read.