Delilah Gray Character Analysis

Delilah is a young media journalist who receives her alert from Death-Cast on the same day that Rufus and Mateo do. However, because Delilah just broke off her engagement with Vincent, a Death-Cast employee, she believes that Vincent orchestrated the call—and so she refuses to take it seriously or believe that she’s going to die. She tells no one that she received her alert in part so that Vincent doesn’t get the satisfaction of knowing he rattled her. Even before the call, Delilah is going through a difficult time: she dyed her hair a number of bright colors a week before the novel begins in an attempt to ignore her unhappiness in her relationship, and she feels as though her boss, Sandy, gives her meaningless assignments. Things begin to change when Delilah learns that Howie Maldonado, a favorite actor of hers, also received his call. A self-professed “professional fangirl,” Delilah makes it her goal to cover Howie’s death and begs Sandy to let her come along to the interview with him. Delilah takes over the interview and proves herself to be a skilled interviewer. She asks Howie questions that get to the heart of what it means to make choices and live with the consequences, and she leaves the interview understanding that life is about balance. Over the course of her day, Delilah has three near-death experiences. Though she makes a show of insisting that this must mean that she’s not going to die, Delilah ultimately calls Vincent and asks if he’s messing with her. He isn’t, but believing that they’re still in love, Vincent rushes to her. Though Delilah doesn’t die by the end of the novel, it’s implied that she will soon, as the novel ends with about an hour left until midnight.