Curling Up With A Good Book: Rockstar Book Tours Blog Tour, Guest Post, & Giveaway: I Am The Traitor (Allen Zadoff)

Title: I AM THE TRAITOR (The Unknown Assassin #3)
Author: Allen Zadoff
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: June 17, 2014
Pages: 432

In the third and final installment in the Unknown Assassin trilogy, Boy Nobody is on the run from The Program and uncovers a secret about his past that forces him to decide where his loyalties lie.

The Program has sent Boy Nobody on countless missions, instructed to kill whichever target he was given. But now, after going rogue, he is on his own mission to rescue his friend Howard who was captured by The Program. Boy Nobody manages to free Howard as well as Tanya, a mysterious girl who was being held with him. Howard and Tanya help Boy Nobody collect information about his father, eventually revealing a dangerous secret that teaches Boy Nobody a valuable lesson -- he can't trust anyone.

Allen Zadoff packs the third book of the Unknown Assassin series with even more action, higher stakes, and mind-blowing reveals that will leave readers riveted.

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Title: I AM THE MISSION (The Unknown Assassin #2)
Author: Allen Zadoff
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: June 17, 2014
Pages: 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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Title: I AM THE WEAPON (The Unknown Assassin #1)
Author: Allen Zadoff
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: June 11, 2013
Pages: 368

Previously published under the title Boy Nobody

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.

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What was your inspiration for writing The Unknown Assassin Series?

The Unknown Assassin did not come to me as a story, but as a character. Inspiration is a mysterious thing and people experience it in different ways. For me, it most often occurs during a writing session when a character begins speaking to me, seemingly out of the blue. In this case, the character was a sixteen-year-old boy. He told me he had no name and that he traveled from place to place, assuming a new identity on every mission. He said his job was to befriend the children of high-value targets so he could get close to and assassinate their parents.

I was shocked. When a character with such an intriguing story begins talking to you, you are wise to listen. So I did what I’ve learned to do in these situations. I turned off the part of my brain that is rational, critical, and skeptical, and went to a different place. A place of curiosity and openness.

You’ve had this same experience before, even if you’re not a writer. It’s the moment where you trust your instinct and intuition more than your rational mind. When something inside you says, “I know I’m supposed to turn right, but I think I’m going to turn left today. I’m not sure why.” And then maybe you run into an old friend, or discover a new restaurant, or see a familiar street in a new way.

I followed my inspiration that day, and the teen assassin began to emerge. I remember I asked him again what his name was, perhaps because I’d never heard of a character without a name. He admitted that he didn’t remember his real name. He said he had been trained to put his past and all of his emotions away so they would not interfere with his mission. That’s why when you read the first book, I AM THE WEAPON, you won’t find out the assassin’s name until three quarters of the way through the story when someone else says the name, and the assassin suddenly remembers it.

It was several years ago, but I’m forever grateful for the inspiration that came to me, and for my willingness to listen, ask questions, and work on the story. I didn’t know it then, but it was the beginning of what would become the trilogy called The Unknown Assassin.