What if, for one hour a day, the entire world was frozen in motion - except for you? Oh, and a whole slew of terrifying creatures?? This is what Jessica Day finds out soon after moving to Bixby, Oklahoma. What she thought were terrifyingly real "dreams" make her suddenly very eager to become friends with the other kids at her new school that seem a little...off.

It's a slap-bang premise, I have to admit. To have this space in time where all bets are off, where an ancient and frea-kay set of rules suddenly apply and you get to be a part of it - that's just one great piece of imagination. I think Westerfeld nearly completely pulls it off. His characters are intense - although Jessica seems a bit "blah" compared to everyone else, but I can see how he's just getting her set-up to become who she truly is in the next two books.

My only complaint? He gets cheesy at the climax, darn him! It really was a great ride to the climax and while I believed it and I can see the potential, the dialogue cheesed out on me. I'm going to forgive it, though, because it really did keep my attention until I finished. I think I need to find out how this all turns out.