I Am the Messenger

Zusak, Markus. I Am the Messenger. 2002, 357p. ISBN 978-0375836671. Available as an

eBook on Overdrive.

Ed Kennedy leads a very ordinary life. At nineteen, he’s a cab driver without goals or ambitions. While others have continued on to school, or produced musical history, or discovered cures for diseases at nineteen, he’s stuck in his small city, with nowhere to go. Fortunately his friends Marv, Audrey, with whom he is hopelessly in love, and Ritchie are also going nowhere.

All that changes during a bank robbery, when Ed becomes thrown in the limelight for foiling it. The next day, he receives a playing card in the mail, with three addresses. Not knowing what to do, he explores each address and realizes that the people who live there all need something from him. As he completes tasks, more cards appear. First, the ace of clubs, then the ace of diamonds. Third came the ace of spades, and lastly the ace of hearts. As the aces arrive, Ed encounters more difficult situations which in some cases threaten his own life. And these situations get closer to him until he must deal with his three best friends.

Ed Kennedy is only the messenger, though, and it is for us to discover what we need from him as we read this dark tale of teenagers learning to grow up into adults.