Title: I AM THE MISSION (The Unknown Assassin #2)Author: Allen Zadoff
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: June 17, 2014Pages: 432
HE WAS THE PERFECT ASSASSIN
No name. No past. No remorse. Perfect, that is, until he began to ask questions and challenge his orders. Now The Program is worried that their valuable soldier has become a liability.
And so Boy Nobody is given a new mission. A test of sorts. A chance to prove his loyalty.
His objective: Take out Eugene Moore, the owner of an extremist military training camp for teenagers. It sounds like a simple task, but a previous operative couldn't do it. He lost the mission and is presumed dead. Now our assassin is confident he can finish the job. Quickly.
But when things go awry, Boy Nobody finds himself lost in a mission where nothing is as it seems: not The Program, his allegiances, nor the truth.
The riveting second book in Allen Zadoff's The Unknown Assassin series delivers heart-pounding action and a shocking new twist that makes our hero question everything he has believed.
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Author: Allen Zadoff
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: June 11, 2013Pages: 368
They needed the perfect assassin.
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 a 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, moving on to the next target.
But when he's assigned to the mayor of New York City, things change. The daughter is unlike anyone he has encountered before; the mayor reminds him of his father. And when memories and questions surface, his handlers at The Program are watching. Because somewhere deep inside, Boy Nobody is somebody: the kid he once was; the teen who wants normal things, like a real home and parents; a young man who wants out. And who just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's mission.In this action-packed series debut, author Allen Zadoff pens a page-turning thriller that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping, introducing an utterly original and unforgettable antihero.
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Allen Zadoff is the author of the THE UNKNOWN ASSASSIN series as well as several acclaimed novels includingFOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN'T HAVE, winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and a YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults. Allen's action-packed series debut, I AM THE WEAPON (formerly BOY NOBODY), is a page-turning thriller about a teenage assassin that has already been optioned for film by Sony Pictures & Overbrook Entertainment. The book was featured in the Los Angeles Times' Summer Reading guide and has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA. Kirkus Reviews called I AM THE WEAPON "fast, furious, and fun." Look for the sequel, I AM THE MISSION, beginning in June 2014. Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. His training as a super spy, however, has yet to be verified. Visit Allen on the web at www.allenzadoff.com.
Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
I used to believe that a writer needed inspiration to write. So I’d wait around for inspiration to come, mistakenly thinking I had to “feel it” before I could create anything. That led to a lot of wasted time and many late-night writing sessions in college, feverishly typing at 2AM so I could catch the inspiration tiger by the tail before he ran away.
I’m finishing up The Unknown Assassin trilogy right now, and I have to tell you, I don’t think it’s possible to write a trilogy on inspiration alone. If you want to write three books in three years, you’re going to have to work hard. Work often. Work before you’re inspired, while you’re inspired, and after inspiration has left for the day.
In other words, you’re going to have to go from being an inspiration-seeker to being a real writer.
What do I mean by this?
First of all, there’s nothing wrong with inspiration. I love inspiration, I celebrate it, and I’d be nowhere without it. My series came to me in a flash of inspiration when I heard the voice of The Unknown Assassin, a sixteen-year-old guy telling me he was secret soldier for the government, traveling from place to place and befriending the children of his targets so he could get close to and assassinate their parents.
I’m so grateful for that inspiration and my willingness to listen and ask questions.
On the day I dreamed up the character who would become the hero of I AM THE WEAPON, I was already at work brainstorming ideas for a new book. I wasn’t waiting for inspiration. First I went to work. The inspiration came later.
It took me many years to understand that inspiration is not some magical rare beast that is nearly impossible to find and capture. It is the byproduct of hard work and developing the skill of opening up a channel to the imagination.
Now I write daily on a regular schedule. When inspiration comes (as it often does), I’m already working and I’m there to welcome it. When it doesn’t come, the work is a lot harder. But that’s okay because I know it will come again. And by the time it does, I will have written a lot more pages. I think inspiration appreciates that I’m dedicated because it’s dedicated, too. We’re in it together.
My message to young writers is that you get better with every word you write, so start writing words. Write them every day. Don’t worry about inspiration. It will come. And when it does, you won’t have to look around for a pen because it will already be in your hand.
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Tour Schedule:
Week One:
6/16/2014- Fiktshun- Guest Post
6/17/2014- New Adult Addiction- Review
6/18/2014- By the Book Reviews- Review
6/19/2014- YA Book Nerd- Interview
6/20/2014- Swoony Boys Podcast- Guest Post
Week Two:
6/23/2014- The Book Landers- Review
6/24/2014- Crossroad Reviews- Review
6/25/2014- The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia- Review
6/26/2014- Curling Up With A Good Book- Guest Post
6/27/2014- Parajunkee's View- Interview
Sounds like a great read, thanks for sharing them with us! Definitely adding them to my TBR.
ReplyDeleteThese books look great! Definitely adding them to my Goodreads! :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda @ Of Spectacles and Books
These books have always caught my attention every time I see them at Barnes & Noble - Looking forward to eventually picking them up
ReplyDeleteLove the sound of the series, definitely one that would be perfect for my son and I.
ReplyDelete