TITLE Boy Nobody (Boy Nobody #1)
AUTHOR Allen Zadoff
PUBLICATION June 11th 2013 by Little, Brown & CO
READ May 13, 2013
SOURCE From Orchard Books for review
Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target.
When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.
I waited a bit to write my review and was really worried how that would affect it but I learned something in this process. The way to bring it all back is to describe the plot and happenings to my husband and feed off his reactions. As I described the twists & turns and characters in BOY NOBODY to him he got excited because it played out like an action movie that he would love to watch and through that I was brought back to the excited place I was in while reading it.
Ben is an assassin. He is a highly trained operative who was brought up to be nobody. He knows how to blend into situations and get out completely unnoticed. I loved his inner dialogue, the way that he read every situation as a series of options he could take to deal with it. The novel definitely had a Jason Bourne feel which is always welcome with me. For someone who was so detached from everything I came to really like him and connect with him. When he meets Sam he starts to have emotions that are completely foreign to him and memories start to resurface that he had no idea were in his psyche.
The romance in this one could definitely be looked at as pretty insta lovey but I think you just have to take it for what it is here. He has 5 days to complete a mission and get a girl to fall for him, which did not prove easy once he got to know the target. Sam was a feisty one and while she did seem to fall for him rather fast she never made it easy on him at all. These two were pretty evenly matched, they could read every thing the other did and they didn’t hesitate to call them on it. I loved how we would experience the thoughts in Ben’s head and in a snap Sam was calling him out on exactly the head game he was planning to play. I love a girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
The novel also comes along with it’s fair share of twists and I enjoyed watching the bad guy change from page to page. I never knew who to trust completely and I questioned everyone at least once. For a YA book it dealt with a lot of politics, which is usually a huge turn off for me, but there was just the right amount of angst and high school drama thrown in that it didn’t bug me at all. I actually came out really liking how it tied in the Israeli government and also some American politicians.
A strong start to a thriller series that is sure to be a hit, I don’t think this is one to be missed. Filled with action from beginning to end, this is one you will not be able to put down. If you are looking for a story with some endearing characters, great twists and pulse pounding action definitely give this one a go.
Interview with Allen Zadoff
Convince us to read BOY NOBODY twitter style (140 characters or less)
Brainwashed teen assassin wakes up and finds himself torn between his mission and a girl he loves. Will he survive?
What inspired you to write BOY NOBODY?
Boy Nobody himself inspired me. He appeared one day out of the blue when I was writing a comic novel. Suddenly I felt the presence of this boy without a name, a teen assassin with a secret past who moved from place to place, fitting in everywhere but belonging nowhere. I was immediately fascinated by him, and then he started to tell me about his life in short, intense sentences. I was hooked.
Which of the characters in the novel do you identify with most?
I’m a big fan of Howard, the geeky teen hacker who befriends Boy Nobody and may or may not help him in future missions. (I don’t want to give anything away.) Howard gets beaten up in school every day, but instead of plotting revenge, he funnels his hurt and anger towards his creativity. He uses his skills to become a “white hat”, a computer hacker dedicated to doing good and improving things on the web rather than breaking the law.
What has been your favourite part of publishing your novels?
There are two elements to writing that delight me. The first is the actual process of creation. It’s a combination of sweat and magic. If I’m willing to sweat (i.e. do the work), the magic sometimes happens. The second element is sharing my work with readers. As I write this, Boy Nobody is on the verge of publishing in the UK and US. This book that I’ve lived with mostly privately for two years is about to make its way out into the world. I’m nervous and excited, but also relieved that the time has finally arrived.
Being an author can definitely require some thick skin. What advice do you have for up & coming authors on how to deal with the ups & downs of being a published author?
You’re right. There are a lot of ups and downs. This is true of life in general, but it’s particularly true of a writer’s life. It helps me to remember that not everybody is going to like my work, and they’re not supposed to. Of course I care what people think and I hope they enjoy my work, but It’s a mistake to define myself by what others think of me. This is not just the writer’s journey, it’s all of our journeys. If you need everyone in school or work to love you, then you are going to be very disappointed, right?
This or That:
Coffee or tea? Morning coffee, afternoon tea.
Summer or winter? I live in L.A. I miss winter.
Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla.
Comedy or horror? Comedy.
Movies or reading? Reading, reading, reading.
Allen's Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Allen Zadoff is the author of three YA novels. His debut novel, Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and was a YALSA selection for Most Popular Paperbacks of 2012. His second novel was My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies, the story of a techie hiding from life after a family tragedy. His most recent novel Since You Left Me is set in Los Angeles and tells the story of a religious school student who doesn't believe. He also wrote the memoir for adults, Hungry:Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin.
Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Look for Boy Nobody, a YA thriller series, coming summer 2013 from Little Brown.
