HarperTeen
September 16, 2014
256 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon
This twisty, breathless cat-and-mouse thrill ride, told in the second person, follows a girl with amnesia in present-day Los Angeles who is being pursued by mysterious and terrifying assailants.
A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.
On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.
The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.
I love that I went into Blackbird not knowing what to expect. With most of the story a mystery, you're in a similar position to that of the main character. She doesn't know how she got on the train tracks, she doesn't know what her name is or who she is. The only identifying thing on her person or in her bag is the tattoo on her arm: a blackbird with FNV02198 beneath it.
She doesn't know what, if anything, it means, though she's sure it means something.
She tries to figure out what the tattoo means and who she is - and to stay safe, which soon seems harder than she expected.
Unsure who to trust, what to question and where danger lurks, she has to trust herself . . . and hope.
Blackbird is told in the second person and it worked for me, in this case. It fits well with the characters missing memory. The 'you' didn't make me feel I was the character, but fit with the character. It seemed fitting that she didn't use an 'I' narration. The 'you' seemed like reminding yourself who you are, what you like or what you're doing. It was especially nice whenever she remembered or thought she remembered something.
The bits that both we readers and the character herself learn about who she is seemed to come at the right times and in the right amount. It isn't so much that you lose the mystery, but is enough that you can connect with the character - and become more engrossed in the mystery.
The ending definitely will leave you eager to read Book 2, Deadfall and with some answers but also some more questions. Blackbird is a quick, fun read and a great mystery.
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