After reading The Book Thief (by the same Author) I really wanted to read more of his stuff so off I went to Amazon and bought I Am The Messenger. Like The Book Thief this book is intended for young adults, it has also won the Micheal Printz Award For Excellence In Young Adult Literature.

The narrator is nineteen year old Ed Kennedy who works as an underage cab driver and lives in a shack with his smelly dog, The Doorman. The beginning of the books sees Ed and his friends accidently stopping a bank robbery. The would be robber gets sent to jail and not long after Ed begins to recieve a series of playing cards. Each card has  different cryptic instructions on which Ed must decipher and do what needs to be done.

On his mission of completing the tasks we learn more about Ed's character, his family and his friends. Ed also learns about himself. 

The book is presented in chapters between each playing card he recieves, and then in small numbered sections, which I liked as it meant I could read small bits at a time whithout having to leave half finished. When I first started reading I didn't think I was going to enjoy it, but I made the mistake of comparing it to The Book Thief, but once I got into it I found I couldn't put it down.  It's very different to The Book Thief but equally enjoyable.

 I've had this one on my wish list for a while - thanks for the review.  It does sound interesting and I loved The Book Thief but did have a feeling that this one would be very different.   I'm really enjoying YA books at the moment.

Me too, I've just finished The Moth Diaries, which didn't sound like my cup of tea, but I thought it was brilliant.

Shell 

i found this very slow to start with but glad i persevered and really enjoyed this read!

I think I'll try this one then ladies. Thankyou for the reviews and opinions.

l fancy giving this one a go at some point too. Thanks for the info.

 I just finished this today and must say I enjoyed it immensely. Personally I liked it even more than 'The Book Thief'. It kept me guessing right to the very end and was just very, very clever. What a talent!

I read this a while ago and absolutely loved it too...very different from The Book Thief but just as good.

http://hazelkeating.blogspot.com/2012/08/i-am-messenger-by-markus-zusak.html

I was rather nervous about reading this book.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my all time favourite reads and a book that made me quite emotional, so I was nervous to read another book by this author and be disappointed in some way.   Would this somehow lessen my experience of The Book Thief!?  Charity shop Karma played it's role as this book, in perfect condition, jumped out at me for $2 at the Humane society thrift store.  How could I resist a  great book and helping out poor animals.

This book is not The Book Thief but it did not disappoint in any way.  Even when writing about serious subjects this author did not fail to inject humour that really worked for me.  The same formula of a serious main story with a novel approach to telling it.  This was done in four sections, respresenting the Ace of each suit of cards and within each section a number of different lengths of chapters each with it's own succinct yet perfect heading.

This was a book that just kept me reading and reading.  In fact, I think I ended up reading it so fast that I need to read it all over again just to make sure I appreciated every last bit of it. 

A book that has put this author on my list of favourite authors as well as favourite books. 5 out of 5 stars.