Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff

Boy Nobody enters schools, follows his orders, identifies his target, and completes his mission.  He is a soldier, working for The Program.  He is invisible, just another teen, but he is so much more.  His life changed when he was taken into The Program at age 11.  The Program fixed him, turning him into someone who can notice the smallest things, who can kill silently, and who has no emotions.  But when Boy Nobody is asked to do the fastest and most dangerous mission of his life, he discovers that he does have emotions.  And that is perhaps the most dangerous thing of all.

I have deliberately given a vague summary above, since a large part of the pleasure of this read is piecing things together.  Written in the first person, the reader gets to see the world from Boy Nobody’s skewed point of view.  This adds to the immediacy of the read, making it all personal, particularly the violence.  And there is violence, fights and murder, done with a coldness that makes it all the more sinister.  Throughout, you have Boy Nobody’s voice explaining just why it is all alright and how his life works.  Then as he begins to feel again, that voice changes and expands.  It is subtle but also powerful. 

This book is written with pacing in mind, the entire book reading like a movie script that plays before your eyes.  There is no hesitation here, little lengthy prose, just vibrant details that are necessary to hurtle the novel forward.  It makes for a read that is riveting and a joy to read. 

The ideal beach read for teens, this book has a thrilling combination of contract killing, subterfuge, and intelligence.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from Little, Brown.