BLOOD TIES by Sophie McKenzie

Theo and Rachel have very different lives. Theo is raised by a single mother on a modest income, but somehow able to afford to send him to a private school and pay for a bodyguard. Rachel lives with both her parents, who seem to find a way to remind her every day that she's not as good, pretty or talented as her dead sister Rebecca. The story is told from Theo and Rachel's perspectives in alternating chapters, but rarely overlapping in theme. Just a continuation of the story from differing views.

Although, the intention of the book is to lead you into this realization that Rachel and Theo are clones and the only two of their kind, I found it easy to figure out that their lives aren't normal and that they are some sort of genetic experiment early on. I do like how the book delves into the idea of hate, but from the group/organization who is hunting them to kill them both because they believe they are abominations as well as the realization that Theo's true biological parents were Jews who were Nazi sympathizers.

The RAGE organization is like many other organizations that truly exist who use violence and murder to express the fact that their views are the only ways to live. I find it fascinating when a group says life is important but chooses to take life in order to get that point across. This story line shows how intolerance can come in many forms.

I always like when female protagonist learn their own strength as well as their voice, but this one seems to happen overnight with Rachel. And it seems she's come to the change because of a boy. That I don't like. She's often bullied by her peers at school, ignored or ridiculed by her mother and father, but the moment Theo's in danger, she's willing to learn to fight and put her life on the line to save and protect him. She can't do it for herself, but she can for a 15 year-old boy... and one who doesn't even know she exists other than to help him find out about his father.

Not as thrilling of an adventure as it could have been from start to finish. The adrenaline ride starts pretty late in the book, but once it does it doesn't give up until the end.